The U.S. military struck five bunkers housing weapons for the Houthis in Yemen on Wednesday, the largest strike on the militia group in months.
The Air Force used B-2 stealth bombers to hit the targets, described as “hardened underground weapons storage locations,” according to a Pentagon release.
“This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened or fortified,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
After Hamas’ attack on Israel last October, the Houthis started attacking commercial ships traveling through the Red Sea, through which 15% of global trade flowed before last year. The group’s stated reason is to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, though Houthi strikes have at times targeted ships that have no ties to Israel.
In December 2023, the Pentagon launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, a mission led by the U.S. and involving multiple countries, which has sought to protect ships transiting the waterway. Most companies have instead rerouted away from the Red Sea, though, and U.S. Navy vessels located there have faced repeated attacks from the group, which America’s government considers a terrorist organization.
The U.S. military has since debated its goals for the mission — and how much it should attempt to damage the Houthis’ ability to launch such attacks, given that Iran continues to resupply the group’s stockpiles.
“At the direction of President Biden, I authorized these targeted strikes to further degrade the Houthis’ capability to continue their destabilizing behavior and to protect and defend U.S. forces and personnel in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” Austin said.
In a separate statement, U.S. Central Command said the strikes hit bunkers filled with “various advanced conventional weapons” that had been used to hit American warships and civilian vessels. Those stocks included “missiles, weapons components and other munitions,” CENTCOM said, assessing for now there were no casualties.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
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