US and Britain attack Houthis in reprisal for attacks on shipping

 U.S. and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of air strikes across Yemen against Houthi forces in retaliation for months of attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Iran-backed fighters cast as a response to the war in Gaza. Th strikes were in cooperation with the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Bahrein.

Witnesses confirmed explosions at military bases near airports in the capital Sanaa and Yemen's third city Taiz, a naval base at Yemen's main Red Sea port Hodeidah and military sites in the coastal Hajjah governorate.

"These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation," U.S. President Joe Biden said. The Pentagon said the U.S.-British assault reduced the Houthis' capacity to launch attacks, especially complex operations such as those they carried out earlier in the week.

The U.S. military said 60 targets in 28 locations had been hit, using more than 150 munitions.

"I know we have degraded (their) capability," U.S. Lieutenant General Douglas Sims told a media briefing. "I don't believe that they would be able to execute the same way they did the other day. But we will see."

In Yemen, enormous crowds gathered in cities. Drone footage on the Houthis' al-Masirah TV showed hundreds of thousands of people in Sanaa chanting slogans denouncing Israel and the United States.

"Your strikes on Yemen are terrorism," said Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council. "The United States is the Devil."

Biden, whose administration removed the Houthis from a State Department list of "foreign terrorist organisations" in 2021, was asked by reporters if he felt the term "terrorist" described the movement now. "I think they are," he said.

The Houthis, who have controlled most of Yemen for nearly a decade, said five fighters were killed in 73 air strikes. They vowed to retaliate and continue their attacks on shipping, which they say are intended to support Palestinians against Israel.