Yemen’s Houthis threaten escalation after American strike using 5,000-pound bunker-buster bomb

Hodeida, Yemen – Yemen Iran-backed Houthis on Friday threatened to increase attacks on shipping in the Red Sea following nighttime attacks by the United States and Britain that rebels said killed 16 people.

Three officials told CBS News national security correspondent David Martin on Friday that the U.S. used a 5,000-pound bunker buster bomb as part of the joint attack on Houthi targets. The GBU-72 bomb was dropped by a US Air Force jet in an effort to destroy an underground Houthi facility. An official said the bomb hit its target, but it was not yet clear whether it was destroyed or whether there were civilian casualties.

The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, said 16 people were killed and a further 40 injured, including an unspecified number of civilians, but there was no independent confirmation of those figures. If confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest attacks since the US and UK began their campaign in January against the Houthis, whose rocket attacks have seriously disrupted the vital Red Sea trade route.

The Iran-backed Houthis have carried out several drone and missile attacks against ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, including US warships, since November, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the Israel-Hamas war.

US Central Command, CENTCOM, said 13 Houthi sites were targeted in the latest attacks.

“American-British aggression will not stop us from continuing our military operations,” Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said on X, formerly Twitter, promising to “meet escalation with escalation.”

In response, the rebels launched a missile attack on the US aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, according to Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree, who added that the group “will not hesitate to respond directly and immediately to each new aggression in Yemeni territories.”

U.S. military officials did not immediately comment on the Houthi claim of targeting the USS Eisenhower.

Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV network broadcast a video showing bloodied and injured men in an alleged attack on a building housing a radio station in the western port city of Hodeida. The channel showed victims receiving treatment in a hospital, although the authenticity of the images could not be independently verified.

A hospital official in Hodeida said many militants were among those killed and injured in the attack, but was unable to provide exact figures.

The British Ministry of Defense said its warplanes launched strikes in a “joint operation with US forces against Houthi military installations”.

The ministry said intelligence indicated that two locations near Hodeida were involved in the attacks on ships, “with a number of buildings identified as housing drone ground control facilities and providing storage for very long-range drones as well as ground-based weapons.” air”. “

Another “command and control” location has been identified further south, it said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “the attacks were carried out in self-defence against a continuing threat”, adding that the rebels had carried out 197 attacks since November.

CENTCOM said the strikes were “necessary to protect our forces, ensure freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure.”

Iran condemned the US-UK military action, saying it aims to “spread insecurity in the region”.

The “US and UK governments are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.

Since January, the United States and Britain have launched repeated attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the rebels’ harassment of shipping. In February, the Houthis held a mass funeral in Sanaa for 17 fighters they said were killed in American and British attacks.

The attacks by the US and Britain did not end the campaign of the rebels, who promised to attack American and British ships, as well as all ships heading to Israeli ports.

The Houthis also said they shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone with a surface-to-air missile, claiming it was the sixth aircraft of its type they had shot down in recent months.