WASHINGTON: The United States will keep attacking Yemen’s Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, the US defence secretary said on Sunday (Mar 16), as the Iran-aligned group signalled it could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.
The airstrikes, which the Houthi-run health ministry said killed at least 53 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Sunday that his militants would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continues its attacks on Yemen.
“If they continue their aggression, we will continue the escalation,” he said in a televised speech.
The Houthi movement’s political bureau described the attacks as a “war crime”, while Moscow urged Washington to cease the strikes.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson on Sunday said, without offering evidence, that the group had targeted US aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and its warships in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones in response to the US attacks.
US warplanes shot down 11 Houthi drones on Sunday, none of which came close to the Truman, a US official told Reuters. US forces also tracked a missile that splashed down off the coast of Yemen and was not deemed a threat, the official said.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures: “The minute the Houthis say we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones. This campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting.”
“This is about stopping the shooting at assets … in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long,” he added.
“They better back off.”
