Above photo: Michael Gomez/AFP.
Sanaa has vowed that US aircraft carriers and military vessels will be targeted for as long as Washington continues to attack Yemen.
The Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) targeted Washington’s aircraft carrier the USS Harry Truman twice in 24 hours, in response to the deadly US–British attack against Yemen over the weekend.
“For the second time within 24 hours, the American aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman was targeted in the northern Red Sea with a number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones in a clash that lasted for several hours,” the YAF said in a statement early on 17 March.
The army said it “succeeded in thwarting a hostile attack that the enemy was preparing to launch against our country,” adding that “its warplanes were forced to return from where they had taken off after a number of missiles and drones were launched at the aircraft carrier and a number of its warships.”
The operation came shortly after renewed US bombardment on Yemen, which targeted a government complex in the Al-Hazm District in Al-Jawf Governorate. US strikes also hit the command tower of the Galaxy Leader ship, which was seized by Yemeni forces in November 2023.
US and British warplanes launched a new round of airstrikes on a residential neighborhood in the Shuaab district of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, late on 15 March, the first since the ceasefire in Gaza was reached.
According to an updated death toll, at least 51 were killed and 100 injured in the attack.
The attack came days after the YAF, which is merged with Ansarallah, announced the reimposition of its maritime blockade on Israeli ships in the Red Sea, Arab Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden – following the expiry of a deadline issued by Sanaa for the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a speech on 16 March that US warships have become a target for the YAF once again as long as Washington “continues the aggression against our country.”
US, British, and Israeli warplanes have carried out numerous attacks against Yemen since last year in response to Sanaa’s pro-Palestine naval operations against Israeli-linked shipping and its direct missile and drone attacks against Israel – which started in 2023 and ended at the beginning of the ceasefire in Gaza.
After the start of a US–British aerial campaign against Yemen in January 2024, the YAF began targeting US military vessels.
Although Yemen halted its attacks after the ceasefire, it vowed to resume operations if the agreement collapsed.
The recent Yemeni decision to reimpose the maritime blockade follows Israel’s closure of all border crossings in Gaza, the prevention of aid from entering, and the halting of electricity to the strip.