CAIRO — Yemen’s Houthi rebels will respond to U.S. airstrikes with further escalation, the group’s military spokesperson said in a televised statement early Monday.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces are confronting this criminal aggression and responding to escalation with escalation,” said Yahya Sarea, the Houthis’ military spokesman. He also claimed, without providing evidence, that the group had launched a second attack on the USS Harry S. Truman, a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.
A U.S. official, speaking to Reuters, said that American warplanes had shot down 11 Houthi drones on Sunday, none of which came close to the carrier. U.S. forces also tracked a missile that fell into the sea off Yemen’s coast and was not considered a threat, the official said.
The airstrikes mark the most significant U.S. military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One U.S. official told Reuters that the campaign could last for weeks.
The Houthis, who have taken control of much of Yemen over the past decade, warned last week that they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea unless Israel lifted its blockade on aid entering Gaza.
