US and UK launch retaliatory strikes against Houthis: What to know

U.S. officials say the U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis.

The military targets included air defense and coastal radar sites, drone and missile storage and launching locations.

President Joe Biden says the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies “will not tolerate” the militant group’s ceaseless attacks on the Red Sea.

Associated Press reporter Tara Copp explains that the strikes on the Houthi targets marked the first U.S. military response to what has been a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“What's significant and concerning here is that this is yet another front. The US has been gravely concerned that the conflict between Israel and Hamas will not only spillover into the North and Lebanon, but stretch farther into the south. And the strikes against Yemen have been an option for weeks, but one that the Biden administration has been reluctant to execute because it does open yet another door and further widen this war,” Copp said.

The Houthis say they are attacking the commercial ships in protest to Israel's relentless bombing campaign in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. And they say they won't stop until Israel's war campaign stops. However they have not retaliated since the US and UK joint strike.

“So far, the Houthis have not responded. They issued warnings last night that they would would threaten the ships that engaged in this attack but we have not yet seen an attack to date, either on the ships in the Red sea, the commercial vessels, or on the US military bases in Iraq and Syria,” Copp said.