US insists it will target Houthis until Yemeni group withdraws threat to Red Sea shipping.
Houthi rebels have claimed another attack on a United States naval vessel, calling it “retaliation” for US strikes on Yemen.
A Houthi spokesperson said on Monday that fighters had launched 18 missiles and a drone at the “aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships”. The US military said it had continued targeting the group overnight.
It was the second strike on the US navy claimed by the Iran-aligned group over the last 24 hours, amid a sudden surge in hostilities. After the Houthis said last week they would resume targeting Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea due to Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza, the US launched a series of large-scale attacks on Yemen over the weekend, killing dozens of people and wounding many more.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the Houthi spokesperson said the attack was “in retaliation to the continued American aggression against our country”.
The US has not responded to the claimed strike. However, US Central Command posted a video on X saying its “forces continue operations against Iran-backed Houthi terrorists”.
The Houthi-backed SABA news agency reported two new air raids early on Monday around the port city of Hodeidah, about 230km (143 miles) from the capital Sanaa.
Citing local authorities, SABA also reported that US forces carried out strikes on a cancer facility being built in the city of Saada on Sunday, causing “widespread destruction”.
The Houthis, who control much of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, maintained a campaign targeting the busy sea route off the coast of Yemen as Israel bombarded Gaza over the past 18 months.
The attacks affected global trade, forcing a significant volume of maritime traffic between Asia and Europe away from the Suez Canal to take the far longer journey around Africa.
The group halted its drone and missile attacks, which had targeted vessels with tenuous Israeli links, when the Gaza ceasefire was declared in January.
However, the Yemeni group said last week it was “resuming the ban on the passage of all Israeli ships” in the Red Sea due to Israel’s renewed blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump ordered the US military to strike at the Houthis.
The attacks killed at least 53 people and injured many more, most of them women and children, according to the Reuters news agency. Most of the 40 raids targeted the Houthi-controlled Saada province, north of Sanaa.
Oil prices have been trading higher on news of the Red Sea attacks. Brent futures – the global international benchmark – rose 41 cents or 0.6% on Monday, to $70.99 a barrel.
