Footage shows third wave of US attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen
The US struck Houthi targets in Yemen overnight following a week of attack on the Iranian-backed militias
Footage release on Sunday evening shows a fresh wave of retaliatory US strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi targets in Yemen.
The video, tweeted by US Central Command, shows strikes being launched from the USS Gravely, USS Carney, and USS Dwight Eisenhower in the Red Sea.
The strikes fired on Sunday morning follow a whole weekend of attacks at Houthi targets.
The US warned Iran and the militias it arms and funds that it will conduct more attacks if American forces in the Middle East continue to be targeted, but that it does not want an “open-ended military campaign” across the region.
“We are prepared to deal with anything that any group or any country tries to come at us with,” said Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security advisor.
Mr Sullivan said Iran should expect “a swift and forceful response” if it — and not one of its proxies — “chose to respond directly” against the US.
He delivered the warnings during a series of interviews with TV news shows after the US and Britain on Saturday struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen.
The Iran-backed militants have fired on American and international interests repeatedly in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
An air assault in Iraq and Syria on Friday targeted other Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan last weekend.
“We cannot rule out that there will be future attacks from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria or from the Houthis,” Sullivan said.
The US has blamed the attack at the Tower 22 base in Jordan on January 28 on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias.
Iran has tried to distance itself from the drone strike, saying the militias act independently of its direction.
On Sunday evening, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he "won’t hesitate to protect British lives."
"Since the last set of strikes, we have seen the Houthis continue to attack shipping in the Red Sea," he told reporters in Northern Ireland.
"That is obviously unacceptable, it is illegal. It puts innocent people’s lives at risk and it has economic consequences.
"It includes attacks, by the way, on British-linked vessels.
"I have been clear that I won’t hesitate to protect British lives, British interests and our diplomatic efforts are focused on bringing de-escalation and stability back to the region."
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