AL-MUKALLA: The US military said on Wednesday that it had destroyed several Houthi drones and missile systems that were threatening international shipping lanes off Yemen as the Houthis reported that US and UK warplanes had struck an area under their control in the southern province of Taiz.
The US Central Command said that over the last 24 hours, its forces destroyed five Houthi drones and two missile systems in Houthi-controlled Yemeni areas that “presented a clear and imminent” threat to international and US and allies’ ships in the region.
The Houthis reported on Wednesday new strikes on Taiz for the second day in a row, with two airstrikes by US and UK aircraft on unidentified targets in the province’s Al-Kamp region.
Since Sunday, Houthi media has reported daily airstrikes by the two nations on Hodeidah, Ibb, and other Yemeni locations.
The Houthis said on Tuesday that two students were killed and at least 10 were injured in a stampede at a school in Al-Janad, Taiz province, caused by large explosions from a location targeted by US and UK warplanes.
In response to the Houthi attacks on ships that began in November, the US formed a coalition of marine task forces to protect ships, designated the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization, and launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, including military bases where drones and missiles were being assembled and coastal areas where drone boats were being prepared to attack ships.
The Houthis claim that their campaign, which has targeted over 100 commercial and naval ships over the last 10 months, is intended to force Israel to end its war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
This comes as Yemen’s Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani has reiterated his calls for tougher international action to punish the Houthis for abducting dozens of Yemenis with international organizations as well as the militia’s violations of human rights.
During the last three months, the Houthis have abducted at least 70 Yemenis working for UN agencies, international aid and humanitarian organizations, and foreign missions in Yemen, accusing them of using their positions with those organizations to spy for the US and Israel.
In a lengthy post on X on Tuesday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Houthi abduction of workers, the Yemeni minister blamed the international community’s inaction for the escalating Houthi crackdown on civil and humanitarian society in Yemen, noting that the world had long “turned a blind eye” to the Houthis’ violations that preceded their latest crackdown.
“The terrorist Houthi militia considered the hesitant international positions a green light to escalate its repressive measures against international and humanitarian organizations operating in the areas under its control, and the local employees working there, without any regard for the disastrous effects of these practices on the difficult economic and humanitarian conditions in the areas under its control,” Al-Eryani said.
He also reiterated his government’s call for international organizations, including UN agencies, to relocate offices to Aden, the country’s interim capital, to protect workers from Houthi repression.
