Houthis claim retaliation as US says
its strikes to continue in Yemen
The death toll from the US attacks on Yemen has risen to 53, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said.
Yemen’s Houthis have said they have retaliated after vowing to “meet escalation with escalation” following the United States air strikes against the group that killed at least 53 people on Saturday.
The rise in the death death toll to 53 from the US attack on Yemen was confirmed by a spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry on Sunday. Five children and two women were among the victims, while the number of injuries rose to 98, said Anees Alsbahi, the spokesperson.
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Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said earlier on Sunday that the group targeted the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and its warships with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone, state TV Al Masirah reported. The US has not yet responded to the Houthis’ claim. Saree added that the US had launched more than 47 raids on various areas in Yemen.
In separate comments, Abdul Malik al Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, said in a televised statement that the US and Israel were “seeking to impose the equation of permissibility on the region and its people”.
“We will respond to the American enemy with missile strikes and targeting its warships and naval vessels,” al-Houthi said, stating that they have decided to “threaten Israeli shipping to pressure the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip”.
The Houthi political bureau said that the deadly strikes constituted a “war crime”.
Al-Asbahi said Saturday’s attacks targeted the capital, Sanaa, and areas in Saada, Al Bayda and Radaa.
But after ordering the initial attacks, US President Donald Trump said he would use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks on shipping along the crucial maritime corridor in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, who began their attacks on shipping containers in response to Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023, and in defence of the Palestinians, reiterated on Sunday in separate comments that the “naval operation will continue until [the] Gaza blockade is lifted and aid is let in”.
The Houthis had halted the attacks when the Gaza ceasefire took effect in January and have not launched any attacks in the two months since.
At the beginning of March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the entry of aid deliveries to Gaza was being suspended in a move to pressure Hamas into accepting an extension of the first stage of the ceasefire deal instead of moving on to the next stage, which would negotiate an end to the war.
On Tuesday, the Houthis announced they would resume attacks after their deadline for Israel to allow the resumption of aid deliveries into Gaza had passed.
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