US hits radar sites in first strikes on Yemen rebels

Dubai / AP

The US military directly targeted Yemen’s Houthi rebels for the first time on Thursday, hitting radar sites controlled by the insurgents after US warships came under missile attacks twice in four days.
The Iran-backed rebels have denied carrying out the attacks, which saw missiles fired at US warships in the Red Sea on Sunday and Wednesday but falling short of their targets.
The United States is providing logistical support to a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the rebels since last year, but Thursday’s strikes marked the first time Washington has taken direct action against the Houthis.
The Pentagon said the cruise missile strikes — authorised by President Barack Obama — were launched at 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT) by the destroyer USS Nitze against territory on Yemen’s Red Sea coast controlled by the Houthis.
“Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.
The strikes “targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb (Strait),” it added.
“These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway.”
The USS Mason, a destroyer, was targeted on Wednesday by a missile fired from rebel-held territory which crashed into the ocean before reaching its target.
The Mason and the USS Ponce, an amphibious staging base, were previously targeted on Sunday by two missiles that also fell short.
“The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic, as appropriate, and will continue to maintain our freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb, and elsewhere around the world,” Cook said.
A Yemeni military source said the US missiles hit radar sites near Al-Makha and Al-Khukha in southwestern Yemen and Ras Isa, further north along the coast.

Attack claims ‘baseless’: Houthis
The Houthis said the accusations they had fired on US warships were “baseless”.
“Such claims aim to create false justifications to step up attacks and to cover up for the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people,” the rebel-controlled Saba news agency quoted a military official allied with the rebels as saying on Thursday.

‘Unlawful’ funeral strike
Human Rights Watch on Thursday said the funeral strike needed to be investigated as “an apparent war crime”.
“While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate,” it said in a statement.

Iran sends warships to Yemen’s coast
Iran has sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden off Yemen’s coast to protect commercial vessels, Iranian media said on Thursday, at a time of heightened tension for the United States in the region.
The announcement came as Washington said it had destroyed radar sites controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, in response to failed missile attacks on its warships in the Red Sea.
However, the two Iranian destroyers were dispatched on October 5, before the incidents involving the US, the conservative-linked Tasnim news agency reported.
Their mission takes them to the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa “to protect merchant vessels against pirates”, before heading on to Tanzania and possibly South Africa, Tasnim said.
It was not clear if the destroyers had already arrived in the Gulf of Aden.