LONDON, January 23. /TASS/. The allied forces carried out eight strikes at Ansar Allah (Houthi) targets in Yemen, with underground warehouses, missile launch sites and aerial observation positions being the main targets, says the joint statement of Australia, Bahrain, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and the US.
"Today’s strike specifically targeted a Houthi underground storage site and locations associated with the Houthis’ missile and air surveillance capabilities," reads the statement, published on the British government’s website.
These strikes, carried out by US and UK forces, with support from the abovementioned countries, aimed to "disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since our coalition strikes on January 11, including anti-ship ballistic missile and unmanned aerial system attacks that struck two US-owned merchant vessels."
According to the statement, the coalition’s main goal "remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea."
"Let us reiterate our warning to Houthi leadership: we will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways in the face of continued threats," the document reads.
The statement underscores that, since mid-November, the Houthis have carried out over 30 attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and the harsh response corresponds to the principle of "upholding the rules-based order."
These strikes have become the first joint US-UK action since January 11. In the following 10 days, the US bombed Houthi positions several times on its own.