US, UK carry out new aerial aggression against Yemen

The US and UK have conducted new airstrikes on Yemen, as tensions remain high in West Asia over the Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Yemen’s al-Masirah TV said Hajjah Governorate was targeted three times on Friday.

Hajjah borders the Red Sea to the west. The crucial waterway has witnessed tensions over the past months as the Israeli war on Gaza continues.

Yemeni armed forces have been attacking Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea to force the regime to stop its genocide in Gaza.

The US and the UK launched airstrikes on Yemen in mid-January for what they called protecting international shipping.

Yemen rejects their claim and has retaliated by targeting American and British ships in the Red Sea. It holds the two Western states responsible for the mounting tensions.

Marine security monitors said Friday a missile strike damaged a ship in the Red Sea off Yemen after Ansarullah pledged to expand its operation.

The British navy’s United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, and security firm Ambrey, said a vessel had reported to have been struck by a missile and sustained “some damage” west of the Yemeni port of Hudaydah in the early hours of Friday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Yemen’s armed forces.

On Friday, Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam vowed to prevent Israeli-linked merchant vessels from sailing in the Indian Indian Ocean.

“Given the stepped-up Israeli military aggression against Gaza, we declare that Yemeni Armed Forces have intensified their retaliatory measures, and will now target Israeli ships traveling in the Indian Ocean on the way to the Cape of Good Hope [at the tip of South Africa],” he wrote in a post published on X social media platform, formerly known as Twitte.

He added that shipping companies linked to Israel should take into serious consideration the threat to target merchant ships in the Indian Ocean, and bear in mind that any ship affiliated to the occupying regime will not be spared from Yemeni naval missiles.

The remarks came hours after Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said Yemeni Armed Forces would continue their retaliatory operations against Israeli-affiliated commercial vessels and prevent the passage of the ships even through the Indian Ocean and through the Cape of Good Hope.  

About 34 Yemeni fighters have been killed since the Yemeni military began to attack shipping lanes in solidarity with the people of Palestine, Houthi said in a televised speech broadcast live from the capital Sana’a on Thursday evening.