Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim that the US has launched new strikes against them, killing 53 people, including five children.
While the US Central Command reported that its forces had maintained operations, the rebel group said that early Monday morning targets in the Al Jaouf and Hudaydah districts had been targeted.
The United States, in an attempt to halt Houthi attacks on Red Sea ships, conducted what it described as a “decisive and powerful” wave of airstrikes on Houthi targets on Saturday.
Key Houthi figures are reportedly among the dead, according to Washington, although the group has not verified this.
According to Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, as long as the United States assaults Yemen, his militants would target American ships in the Red Sea.
Houthi health ministry spokeswoman Anis al-Asbahi updated a previous death toll on X, stating that 98 people had been wounded and 53 people, including “five children and two women,” had been murdered.
Speaking to the AFP news agency, a father of two named Ahmed said: “I’ve been in Sanaa for ten years and have heard shelling all through the war. God, I’ve never had this kind of experience before.”
Until the Houthi attacks cease, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised a “unrelenting” missile campaign.
“I want to be very clear, this campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence,” Hegseth said in a televised Fox Business interview.
The Houthis said it would continue to target Red Sea shipping until Israel lifted its blockade of Gaza, and that its forces would respond to the strikes.
The Iranian-backed rebel group, which considers Israel its enemy, controls Sanaa and the north-west of Yemen, but it is not the country’s internationally-recognised government.
The Houthis have said they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and have claimed – often falsely – that they are targeting ships only linked to Israel, the US or the UK.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members.