U.S news organizations citing anonymous sources said The U.S. military carried out an additional strike early Saturday against Houthi positions in Yemen
The latest strike targeted a radar site that officials said presented a continuing threat to maritime traffic.
The strike came a little more than a day after the U.S. and British militaries carried out dozens of strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, in retaliation for weeks of Houthi attacks that have disrupted shipping and damaged vessels transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Houthi militants did launch an anti-ship ballistic missile early Friday, U.S. military officials confirmed, though it did not hit any ships.
U.S. and British officials expressed optimism Friday that the initial strikes late Thursday, which are now being described as two waves of strikes, were successful.
This Jan. 12, 2024, satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage from airstrikes on a radar site at Sanaa Airport in Yemen.
U.S. Central Command late Thursday said that U.S. fighter jets, naval vessels and submarines hit more than 60 targets at 16 locations across Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems and production facilities.
U.S. officials said, in all, more than 150 precision-guided munitions were aimed at Houthi targets, including Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles.
At least three U.S. guided missile cruisers and destroyers (the USS Gravely, the USS Philippine Sea and the USS Mason) took part in the strikes along with an Ohio-class submarine, fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, and U.S. Air Force jets.
A separate statement Friday from the British Defense Ministry said four of its Typhoon fighter jets, accompanied by an air refueling tanker, used laser-guided bombs to hit two locations: a drone launch site in Bani, in northwestern Yemen, and an airfield in Abbs, used to launch cruise missiles and drones at ship in the Red Sea.
"Early indications are that the Houthis' ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow," the ministry said.
Despite the optimistic strike assessments, U.S. officials have said they believe the Houthis are likely to retaliate.
But the White House repeated its warning Friday that the Houthis would face additional consequences if their attacks persisted.
“We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior, along with our allies,” President Joe Biden said in response to reporters’ questions during a stop at a coffee shop in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Also Friday, the U.S. unveiled new sanctions aimed at commodity shipments that have been funding the Houthis and their Iranian backers.
U.S. Treasury officials imposed sanctions on a Hong-Kong-based company and another company in the United Arab Emirates, both of which have been working with Sa'id al-Jamal, a financier who has been supporting both the Houthis and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
"We will take all available measures to stop the destabilizing activities of the Houthis and their threats to global commerce," Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson said in a statement.
Since mid-November, the Houthis have launched at least 28 attacks, affecting citizens, cargo and vessels from more than 50 countries, according to the U.S.
U.S. officials have said Biden decided to launch Thursday's strikes following a Houthi attack on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Tuesday that involved 18 one-way attack drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile.
U.S. combat jets, along with U.S. and British military vessels, responded by shooting down the drones and missiles, averting any damage to ships or injuries to their crews in the area.
Last week, the United States and 12 allies issued a statement warning the Houthis of unspecified consequences if their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea continued.
The statement followed the launch in mid-December of Operation Prosperity Guardian by the United States, Britain and nearly 20 other countries to protect ships from Houthi attacks.
Since the launch of Prosperity Guardian, at least 1,500 vessels have passed safely through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.