United States officials said the US military launched cruise missiles on Thursday to neutralize three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled Yemen territories. The attack was in retaliation to earlier failed missile strikes on a US Navy destroyer.
The Obama-authorized strikes signify Washington’s first direct military action against supposed Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen’s conflict.
Nevertheless, the Pentagon appeared to underscore the constrained nature of the strikes. The cruise missiles were aimed at radar that facilitated the launch of at least three missiles. The enemy missiles were targeting the US Navy destroyer USS Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the limited self-defense strikes were carried out to defend “our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation.”
One of the officials said that the radars were active during earlier attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. He added that the targeted radar sites were in isolated areas where the risk of civilian casualties, therefore, was low.
The official ascertained the areas in Yemen where the radar was located as near Khoka, north of Mukha, and near Ras Isa.
The botched missile attacks on the USS Mason seemed to be part of the response to a suspected Saudi-led attack on mourners assembled in Sanaa, Yemen’s Houthi-held capital.
However, the Houthis denied any connection in Sunday’s attempt to strike the USS Mason.
Houthi’s deny missile attacks
The Houthis repeated a denial on Thursday that they carried out the strikes. A news agency regulated by the group reported a military source as saying that the missiles did not come from areas under their control.
Further, the accusations were false excuses, the source said, to intensify hostility and conceal crimes committed against the Yemeni people.
US officials have said there were mounting indications that Houthi forces were responsible for Sunday’s attempted strikes.
The missile attacks add to questions about safety of passage for military vessels near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. On October 1, a missile strike on a ship from the United Arab Emirates took place.
The Pentagon warned against any future attacks. “The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate,” Cook said.
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