President Joe Biden said Friday he’s delivered a message to Iran with Thursday’s airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, which he now is calling a terrorist group despite his administration’s 2021 decision to revoke that label.
“I’ve already delivered the message to Iran,” Biden said when asked his message during a tour of a coffee shop in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “They know not to do anything.”
“We will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” he said.
The US and UK militaries launched strikes against Houthi targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Thursday, marking a significant response after the Biden administration and its allies warned that the Iran-backed militant group would bear the consequences of its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
US and coalition forces struck at least 60 targets with more than 150 precision-guided munitions at 28 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations, military officials said. The Houthi assets included command and control nodes, munitions, depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems.
The strikes, which have been condemned by several leaders across the Middle East, killed five and wounded six others, according to the rebels’ military spokesperson, Yahya Sare’e, who said they would not deter further Houthi attacks on shipping.
The Houthis fired at least one anti-ship ballistic missile towards a commercial vessel Friday, Director of the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims II said. Hours later the US carried out further strikes against Houthi locations in Yemen, according to a US official.
These strikes, carried out unilaterally by the US, were much smaller in scope and targeted a radar facility used by the Houthis, the official said. It was not immediately clear…
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