The round of airstrikes launched by the U.S. and U.K. on Saturday “further degraded the Houthis’ capability to continue their illegal and reckless attacks” against U.S. ships and international commercial vessels, according to a senior U.S. administration official.
“The U.S. does not want escalation, and these strikes are directly in response to the actions by the Iranian-backed Houthis,” the senior administration official said. “They are unrelated to the action the United States took on Friday in response to the continued attacks on our troops and facilities in Iraq and Syria.”
The official emphasizes that the U.S. has “rallied a global coalition” to condemn and hold the Houthis accountable, adding that this is the third round of strikes as part of the coalition that includes the U.S., UK, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, and now also Denmark and New Zealand.
-ABC News’ Selina Wang
The U.S. and U.K. led a coalition of strikes against Houthis in Yemen focused on degrading the Houthis capabilities in shipping attacks, US officials say, stressing that the strikes are unrelated to strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday which were in response to the attack on U.S. troops in Jordan. Earlier reporting said the attacks on Yemen were in response to the attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.
While the timing may be coincidental, both the militia groups in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis are backed by Iran, U.S. officials say. But when asked if there was an…
