Seventeen Houthi rebels were killed in American strikes which targeted their positions in Yemen, official media of these insurgents said on Saturday February 10 after a public funeral in Sanaa.
“The bodies of members of the armed forces who fell as martyrs during the bombings of the American-British aggression were carried during a funeral procession in Sanaa
,” Saba news agency reported, listing their names.
The United States announced that it had carried out new strikes on Thursday targeting four surface drones and seven cruise missiles
“ready to be launched against
ships in the Red Sea
”
by the Houthis in Yemen, where the rebels control vast territories.
These drones and missiles were
“identified in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen”
and posed
“an imminent threat”
to navigation, the United States Middle East Military Command (Centcom) said.
“Terrorist” entity
The American army also carried out strikes on Wednesday on Houthi sites close to Iran.
Since November, the Houthis have said they are targeting ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they consider linked to Israel, in
“solidarity”
with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is at war with Israel.
Their attacks have forced many shipowners to suspend passage through this zone where 12% of world trade passes.
Israel's first ally, Washington, which has designated the Houthis as a
“terrorist”
entity , set up a multinational coalition in December to
“protect”
maritime traffic.
This coalition having so far not allowed a cessation of attacks, American forces, sometimes with the British ally, have carried out several strikes against the Houthis in Yemen since mid-January.
The Houthis have been at war since 2014 against the power in Yemen, a poor country on the Arabian Peninsula.