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US, UK strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen

Joint UK-US military strikes on Yemeni targets fail to cause major damage, Houthis say

Overnight on January 12, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom delivered joint strikes on rebel-held positions in several Yemeni cities, using aircraft, warships and submarines

DUBAI, January 12. /TASS/. The strikes delivered by UK and US forces on positions of the Yemen-based Houthi rebels from the Ansar Allah movement have failed to cause any serious damage, Houthi Spokesman Mohamed Abdel-Salam told Al Jazeera television.

"The strikes did not entail any real damage, either materially or strategically," he stressed. "We can say that they were unimpressive and do not have any real significance," the movement’s spokesman added.

Overnight on January 12, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom delivered joint strikes on rebel-held positions in several Yemeni cities, using aircraft, warships and submarines. US President Joe Biden said the operation was carried out in response to "unprecedented Houthi attacks" on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and that the strikes were delivered in self-defense. Houthi missile sites, drones and radiolocation systems were targeted. According to the movement’s military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, a total of 73 strikes were delivered on the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a as well as on the governorates of Al-Hudaydah, Taiz, Hajjah and Saada, killing five Houthis and wounding six.

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. According to estimates by CENTCOM, the US Defense Department’s Central Command, the Yemeni rebel group has attacked more than 20 civilian vessels in the Red Sea since mid-November.

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