Yemeni government condemns Houthis for 'escalating' tensions as US launches new strike
The missile strike carried out by a navy warship targeted a radar site to "degrade the Houthi's ability to attack maritime vessels", ITV News Correspondent Ben Chapman reports
The US military struck another Houthi-controlled site in Yemen early on Saturday morning one day after it and the UK launched multiple airstrikes targeting the group.
In what the US called a "follow-up action" to Thursday night's attacks, a US ship fired missiles at a radar site in western Yemen.
The strike, which was much smaller in scope, was conducted by the Navy destroyer USS Carney using Tomahawk land attack missiles, a US official said.
The latest strike was carried out unilaterally by the US, the official added.
It comes after British and American military assets bombed more than a dozen targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Thursday night.
The US and UK struck 28 separate Houthi sites in an attempt to disrupt their ability to fire upon international shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
The two countries were also backed by Canada, Australia, Bahrain, and the Netherlands.
The US had threatened the possibility of additional military action if the Houthis continued to carry out drone and missile attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, which have caused issues to global trade.
“We will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” President Joe Biden said Friday while in Pennsylvania.
Yemen's internationally-recognised government has condemned the Houthis for "dragging the country into conflict", saying in a statement that the rebels are "creating a conflict for propaganda."
Houthis say they are attacking ships in the Red Sea, which are either Israeli or heading to Israeli ports, in response to ongoing air and ground offensive inside the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have begun marching to Parliament Square in London, in support of Palestine.
Protesters were seen filing past St Paul’s, with one man holding a placard claiming Yemen “supports Palestine”.
The placard read: “UK + US wants war. Yemen supports Palestine. Gaza wants to live.”
Around 1,700 police officers are on duty in, the Metropolitan Police said on Saturday morning .
A pro-Israel rally will be held in Trafalgar Square on Sunday.
The majority of protests and other events held in recent months have taken place without any notable disorder, the Met Police said, but there has been a number of arrests.
There have been repeated examples of placards, banners and other items being carried or worn, or statements being chanted, that have “crossed the line” into religiously or racially aggravated offences or crimes under the Terrorism Act, the force added.
The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command has launched around 30 investigations into suspected offending at protests since October 7, the majority of which relate to potential terrorism offences.
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