DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Suspected U.S. airstrikes battered rebel-controlled areas of Yemen into Wednesday, with saying that one strike killed at least four people near the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.
Meanwhile, satellite images taken Wednesday and analyzed by The Associated Press show now stationed at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean — a highly unusual deployment amid the Yemen campaign and tensions with Iran.
The intense campaign of airstrikes in Yemen under U.S. President , targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, , according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.
The campaign appears to show no signs of stopping as the Trump administration again linked their airstrikes on the Iranian-backed Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its . While so far giving no specifics about the campaign and its targets, White House press secretary put the overall number of strikes on Tuesday at more than 200.
“Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks, and we have seen they have taken out Houthi leaders,” Leavitt said. “They’ve taken out critical members who were launching strikes on naval ships and on commercial vessels and this operation will not stop until the freedom of navigation in this region is restored.”
The Houthis haven’t acknowledged the loss of any of its leadership so far — and the U.S. hasn’t identified any official by name. However, messages released by between Trump administration officials and their public comments suggest a leader in the rebels’ missile forces had been targeted.
Fatal strike reportedly targets Hodeida
Overnight, a likely U.S. airstrike targeted what the Houthis described as a “water project” in Hodeida governorate’s Mansuriyah District, killing four people and wounding others. Other strikes into Wednesday targeted Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa governorates, the rebels said.
The rebels say they’ve continued to launch attacks against U.S. warships in the Red Sea, namely the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which is carrying out the majority of the strikes on the Houthis. No warship has been struck yet, but the U.S. Navy has described the Houthi fire as the most its sailors have faced since World War II.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, now in Asia, is on its way to the Middle East to back up the Truman. Early Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that “additional squadrons and other air assets” would be deployed to the region, without elaborating.
More B-2s seen at Diego Garcia
That likely includes the deployment of nuclear-capable B-2 bombers to Camp Thunder Bay on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Satellite photos taken Wednesday by Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP showed at least six B-2s at the base.
The deployment represents nearly a third of all the B-2 bombers in Washington’s arsenal. It’s also highly unusual to see that many at one base abroad. Typically, so-called show of force missions involving the B-2 have seen two or three of the aircraft conduct operations in foreign territory.
The nuclear-capable B-2, which first saw action in 1999 in the Kosovo War, is rarely used by the U.S. military in combat, because each aircraft is worth around $1 billion. It has dropped bombs in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya as well. The bombers are based at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri and typically conduct long-range strikes from there.
The U.S. has used the B-2 in Yemen last year to attack . The B-2 likely would need to be used if Washington ever tried to target as well.
The Houthis on Tuesday said that they shot down over the country.
Intense US bombings began on March 15
has found the new American operation against the Houthis under Trump appears than those under former U.S. President Joe Biden, as Washington moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel and dropping bombs on cities.
The new campaign of airstrikes started after the rebels again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The rebels have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted.
The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.
The attacks greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decadelong stalemated war, which has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
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