Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, early on Sunday, just days after the country’s Iran-backed rebels fired cluster munitions toward Israel, according to a local media report.The rebel Houthi-run al-Masirah channel reported the strikes, the first to hit the rebel-held Sanaa since Aug. 17, when Israel said it targeted energy infrastructure it believed was used by the rebels. Israel has not confirmed Sunday’s attack.The Iran-backed Houthis have launched missiles and drones toward Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea for more than 22 months. They say they are carrying out the attacks in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war in the Gaza Strip.They are usually intercepted before landing in Israel.An Israeli Air Force official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said the projectile fired from Yemen towards Israel on Friday night marked a new threat. The missile was a cluster munition — a projectile that is supposed to detonate into multiple explosives.It was the first time the Houthis had launched a cluster bomb at Israel since the militant group began launching rockets towards Israel in 2023, the official said. The use of cluster bombs makes it harder for Israel to intercept and also represents additional technology provided to the Houthis by Iran, the official said.The Houthi attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passes each year.From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones. The rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war and later became the target of an intense, weekslong airstrike campaign ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.In May, the United States announced a deal with the Houthis to end the airstrikes in return for an end to shipping attacks, although the rebel group said the agreement did not include halting attacks on targets it believed were aligned with Israel.
CAIRO —
Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, early on Sunday, just days after the country’s Iran-backed rebels fired cluster munitions toward Israel, according to a local media report.
The rebel Houthi-run al-Masirah channel reported the strikes, the first to hit the rebel-held Sanaa since Aug. 17, when Israel said it targeted energy infrastructure it believed was used by the rebels. Israel has not confirmed Sunday’s attack.
The Iran-backed Houthis have launched missiles and drones toward Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea for more than 22 months. They say they are carrying out the attacks in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war in the Gaza Strip.
They are usually intercepted before landing in Israel.
An Israeli Air Force official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said the projectile fired from Yemen towards Israel on Friday night marked a new threat. The missile was a cluster munition — a projectile that is supposed to detonate into multiple explosives.
It was the first time the Houthis had launched a cluster bomb at Israel since the militant group began launching rockets towards Israel in 2023, the official said. The use of cluster bombs makes it harder for Israel to intercept and also represents additional technology provided to the Houthis by Iran, the official said.
The Houthi attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passes each year.
From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones. The rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war and later became the target of an intense, weekslong airstrike campaign ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
In May, the United States announced a deal with the Houthis to end the airstrikes in return for an end to shipping attacks, although the rebel group said the agreement did not include halting attacks on targets it believed were aligned with Israel.
The military stated that the incident was under review and that several attempts were made to intercept the missile.
The Houthi missile fired from Yemen that triggered sirens across central Israel likely fragmented mid-air, the IDF said on Friday.
Magen David Adom said that there were reports of shrapnel impacting a house in Moshav Ginaton. Israeli media said the fragment landed in the house’s backyard.
The owner of the yard impacted by the shrapnel, Ilana Hatomi, told Ynet that, “There was a boom. I was sitting in a shelter, everything exploded, and that was it.
“Everything can be fixed, everything can be fixed, it’s just material damage.”
Hatomi’s daughter, Shira, described the incident as “a great stroke of luck.
Interception of a Houthi missile fired from Yemen towards Israel, June 10, 2025. (credit: SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)
“Fortunately, our mother heard the alarm and went into the emergency room. We talked while she was there, and she said there was a big boom. When she came out, she saw that the whole house was covered in glass,” Shira told Ynet. “It’s lucky that it fell close and not on the house. She said that the whole house shook, and as you can see, everything is shattered.”
Booms reported as missile fragments above Israel
Loud booms were heard around Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. The IDF said it made several attempts to intercept the missile.
No serious injuries have been reported at this time.
Earlier in the evening, the IDF also had to make several attempts to intercept a drone launched from Yemen, which triggered sirens in Israeli towns along the Egyptian border.
Senator John McCain joined Face the Nation in 2015 after the collapse of a pro-American government in Yemen. He spoke about the situation on the ground and what could happen next.
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JERUSALEM — A year after Hamas’ fateful attack on southern Israel, the Middle East is embroiled in a war that shows no signs of ending and seems to be getting worse.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive was initially centered on the Gaza Strip. But the focus has shifted in recent weeks to Lebanon, where airstrikes have given way to a fast-expanding ground incursion against Hezbollah militants who have fired rockets into Israel since the Gaza war began.
Next in Israel’s crosshairs is archenemy Iran, which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other anti-Israel militants in the region. After withstanding a massive barrage of missiles from Iran last week, Israel has promised to respond. The escalating conflict risks drawing deeper involvement by the U.S., as well as Iran-backed militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
When Hamas launched its attack on Oct. 7, 2023, it called on the Arab world to join it in a concerted campaign against Israel. While the fighting has indeed spread, Hamas and its allies have paid a heavy price.
The group’s army has been decimated, its Gaza stronghold has been reduced to a cauldron of death, destruction and misery and the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have been killed in audacious attacks.
Although Israel appears to be gaining the edge militarily, the war has been problematic for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too.
Dozens of Israeli hostages are languishing in Hamas captivity, and a year after Netanyahu pledged to crush the group in “total victory,” remnants of the militant group are still battling in pockets of Gaza. The offensive in Lebanon, initially described as “limited,” grows by the day. A full-on collision with Iran is a possibility.
At home, Netanyahu faces mass protests over his inability to bring home the hostages, and to many, he will be remembered as the man who led Israel into its darkest moment. Relations with the U.S. and other allies are strained. The economy is deteriorating.
Here are five takeaways from a yearlong war that has upended longstanding assumptions and turned conventional wisdom on its head.
A region is torn apart by unthinkable death and destruction
A long list of previously unthinkable events have occurred in mind-boggling fashion.
The Oct. 7 attack was the bloodiest in Israel’s history. Young partygoers were gunned down. Cowering families were killed in their homes. In all, about 1,200 people died and 250 were taken hostage. Some Israelis were raped or sexually assaulted.
The ensuing war in Gaza has been the longest, deadliest and most destructive in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Gaza health authorities say nearly 42,000 people have been killed — roughly 2% of the territory’s entire population. Although they do not give a breakdown between civilians and combatants, more than half of the dead have been women and children. Numerous top Hamas officials have been killed.
The damage and displacement in Gaza have reached unseen levels. Hospitals, schools and mosques – once thought to be insulated from violence – have repeatedly been targeted by Israel or caught in the crossfire. Scores of journalists and health workers have been killed, many of them while working in the line of duty.
Months of simmering tensions along Israel’s northern border recently boiled over into war.
A growing list of Hezbollah officials – including the group’s longtime leader — have been killed by Israel. Hundreds of Hezbollah members were killed or maimed in explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies. Israel’s ground offensive is its first in Lebanon since a monthlong war in 2006.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands of Israelis and over 1 million Lebanese. Israel promises to keep pounding Hezbollah until its residents can return to homes near the Lebanese border; Hezbollah says it will keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
The leaders of Hamas and Israel appear in no rush for a cease-fire
When the war erupted, the days appeared to be numbered for both Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Netanyahu’s public standing plummeted as he faced calls to step aside. Sinwar fled into Gaza’s labyrinth of tunnels as Israel declared him a “dead man walking.”
Yet both men — facing war crimes charges in international courts — remain firmly in charge, and neither appears to be in a rush for a cease-fire.
The end of the war could mean the end of Netanyahu’s government, which is dominated by hard-line partners opposed to a cease-fire. That would mean early elections, potentially pushing him into the opposition while he stands trial on corruption charges. Also looming is the prospect of an unflattering official inquiry into his government’s failures before and during the Oct. 7 attack.
Fearing that, his coalition has hung together even through mass protests and repeated disagreements with top security officials pushing for a deal to bring home the hostages. After a brief period of post-Oct. 7 national unity, Israel has returned to its divided self — torn between Netanyahu’s religious, conservative, nationalist right-wing base and his more secular, middle-class opposition.
Sinwar, believed to be hiding in Gaza’s tunnels, continues to drive a hard bargain in hopes of declaring some sort of victory. His demands for a full Israeli withdrawal, a lasting cease-fire and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for scores of hostages have been rejected by Israel — even as much of the international community has embraced them.
With cease-fire efforts deadlocked and Netanyahu’s far-right coalition firmly intact, the war could go on for some time. An estimated 1.9 million Palestinians remain displaced in Gaza while an estimated 68 hostages remain captive in Gaza, in addition to the bodies of 33 others held by Hamas.
Bitter enemies experience the limits of force
Early in the war, Netanyahu promised to destroy Hamas’ military and governing abilities.
Those goals have been achieved in many ways. Israel says it has dismantled Hamas’ military structure, and its rocket barrages have been diminished to a trickle. With Israeli troops stationed indefinitely in Gaza, it is difficult to see how the group could return to governing the territory or pose a serious threat.
But in other ways, total victory is impossible. Despite Israel’s overwhelming force, Hamas units have repeatedly regrouped to stage guerrilla-style ambushes from areas where Israel has withdrawn.
Across the Middle East, bitter enemies are witnessing the limits of force and deterrence.
Israel’s deepening invasion of Lebanon and repeated strikes on Hezbollah have failed to halt the rockets and missiles. Missile and drone attacks by Iran and its allies have only deepened Israel’s resolve. Israel is vowing to strike Iran hard after its latest missile barrage, raising the likelihood of a broader, regionwide war.
Without diplomatic solutions, the fighting is likely to persist.
Israel and Gaza will never be the same
Israel is still deeply traumatized as people try to come to terms with the worst day in its history.
The Oct. 7 killings and kidnappings had an outsized impact on a tiny country founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Israelis’ sense of security was shattered, and their faith in the military was tested like never before.
Photos of Israeli hostages are everywhere, and mass demonstrations are held each week calling on the government to reach a deal to bring them home. The prospect of ongoing war looms over families and workplaces as reserve soldiers brace for repeated tours of duty.
The trauma is far more acute in Gaza – where an estimated 90% of the population remains displaced, many of them living in squalid tent camps.
The scenes have drawn comparisons to what the Palestinian call the Nakba, or catastrophe – the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. The Palestinians now find themselves looking at a tragedy of even greater scale.
It remains unclear when displaced Palestinians in Gaza will be able to return home and whether there will be anything to return to. The territory has suffered immense destruction and is littered with unexploded bombs. Children are missing a second consecutive school year, virtually every family has lost a relative in the fighting and basic needs like food and health care are lacking.
After a hellish year, the Palestinians of Gaza have no clear path forward, and it could take generations to recover.
Old formulas for pursuing Mideast peace no longer work
The international community’s response to this bloodiest of wars has been tepid and ineffective.
Repeated cease-fire calls have been ignored, and a U.S.-led plan to reinstate the Palestinian Authority in postwar Gaza has been rejected by Israel. It remains unclear who will run the territory in the future or who will pay for a cleanup and reconstruction effort that could take decades.
One thing that seems clear is that old formulas will no longer work. The international community’s preferred peace formula – the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – seems hopelessly unrealistic.
Israel’s hard-line government opposes Palestinian statehood, says its troops will remain in Gaza for years to come and has further cemented its undeclared annexation of the West Bank. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority has been pushed to the brink of irrelevance.
For decades, the United States has acted as the key mediator and power broker in the region – calling for a two-state solution but showing little political will to promote that vision. Instead, it has often turned to conflict management, preventing any side from doing anything too extreme to destabilize the region.
This approach went up in smoke on Oct. 7. Since then, the U.S. has responded with a muddled message of criticizing Israel’s wartime tactics as too harsh while arming the Israeli military and protecting Israel against diplomatic criticism. The result: The Biden administration has managed to antagonize both Israel and the Arab world while cease-fire efforts repeatedly sputter.
This approach has also alienated the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, complicating Kamala Harris’ presidential aspirations. The warring sides appear to have given up on the Biden administration and are waiting for the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election before deciding their next moves.
Whoever wins the race will almost certainly have to find a new formula and recalibrate decades of American policy if they want to end the war.
The U.S. military struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels, U.S. officials confirmed.
Military aircraft and warships bombed Houthi strongholds at approximately five locations, according to the officials.
Seven strikes hit the airport in Hodeida, a major port city, and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base, Houthi media said. Four more strikes hit the Seiyana area in Sanaa, the capital, and two strikes hit the Dhamar province. The Houthi media office also reported three air raids in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa.
The strikes came days after the Houthis threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel after they apparently shot down a U.S. military drone flying over Yemen. Last week, the group claimed responsibility for an attack targeting American warships.
The rebels fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three U.S. ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, according to several U.S. officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released.
Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza started last October. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels.
The group has maintained that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
Beirut, Lebanon — Israel expanded its airstrikes on Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and beyond over the weekend, launching raids thousands of miles away on Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Israeli attack on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida came after months of U.S. and British strikes against the group – a joint response to the rebels’ regular rocket, drone and missile attacks on international military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The Israeli strikes also came, however, amid growing concern that Israel’s nearly-year-long war with the Houthi’s ideological allies Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon could spiral into a broad regional conflict, drawing in Iran and even the U.S. to back their respective allies.
Israel hit the Houthis just a couple days after it assassinated Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah with a massive airstrike on Friday.
After that strike, Israeli forces continued pounding purported Hezbollah and Hamas targets across Lebanon’s south and east all weekend, but the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah stronghold where Nasrallah was killed along with another senior commander and two other high-ranking members of the group, has borne the brunt.
A man mourns people killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Ain Deleb, near the southern Lebanon city of Sidon, Sept. 30, 2024.
Aziz Taher/REUTERS
The well-armed group’s surviving deputy leader Naim Qassem vowed Monday that Hezbollah would carry on – despite its near decapitation via airstrikes, and before that exploding pagers and walkie talkies – “facing the Israeli enemy to support Gaza and Palestine.”
He accused the U.S. of offering Israel “limitless support” for Israel to carry out “massacres” in Lebanon and Gaza, and then claimed Hezbollah had fired even more weapons at Israel, and deep into the country, since Nasrallah was killed.
But Hezbollah’s incessant drone and rocket fire is virtually wiped out by Israel’s advanced air defenses before it reaches any targets. There have been civilians injured over the last couple weeks, but in Lebanon’s capital, entire residential buildings have been flattened.
CBS News went to see the aftermath of one Israeli strike Sunday on the edge of Dahiyeh. A five-storey-building was reduced to rubble. It was still smoldering as another massive boom reverberated in the distance, underscoring the unpredictable security situation for Lebanese civilians as Israel carries on, determined, it says, to push Hezbollah many miles away from its border to stop the cross-border attacks.
Getty/iStockphoto
Israel has assassinated at least five Hezbollah commanders over the past week alone, and 19 in just a few months — dealing a major blow to the U.S.-designated terrorist group. Hezbollah ramped up its attacks on Israel a day after Israeli forces launched their first airstrikes on its Hamas allies, in immediate response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.
Hezbollah has acknowledged losing more than 30 operatives in recent weeks, including many of its senior leaders, but the ferocity and pace of the Israeli strikes in Lebanon has also taken a massive toll on Lebanese civilians. At least 1,000 people have been killed in just two weeks — 105 on Sunday alone.
According to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the strikes have displaced almost 1 million people from their homes, most of them fleeing southern Lebanon for Beirut of other locations further north.
Some of those displaced families — including many with young children — have come to Beirut’s iconic Blue Mosque, desperate to find safety. The place of worship has become a refuge for people who told CBS News they’d rather sleep in the courtyard’s surrounding the building, out in the open, than go back to their neighborhoods amid Israel’s bombardment.
Samar al-Attrash is among those who have found sanctuary outside the mosque. She fled her home in Dahiyeh with her husband and their three children, and little more than the clothes on their backs.
CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab (right) speaks with Samar al-Attrash as she sits with her husband and their three young children on the steps of Beirut’s Blue Mosque, to which they fled seeking shelter amid Israeli bombing near their home in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Sept, 28, 2024.
CBS News
“We have nowhere to go to but here,” the mother told us. “We are very scared and we can’t go back to Dahiyeh at all until the situation gets better.”
“I told my kids it’s scary and that we can’t go home,” she said. “I’m only telling [them] a little at a time so I don’t traumatize them.”
President Biden reiterated his warning on Sunday that an all-out regional war must be avoided, but as he spoke, CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay and his team reported that tanks and armored vehicles were massing on the Israeli side of the country’s northern border with Lebanon.
A photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in black, meeting Israeli forces near the country’s northern border with Lebanon, Sept. 30, 2024.
IDF handout
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant paid another visit to Israeli troops waiting for orders near the border, telling them killing Nasrallah was, “an important step, but it is not the final one.”
“We will employ all of our capabilities,” Gallant told the Israeli troops, “and this includes you.”
It was the latest clear signal that Israel is preparing for some kind of ground operation in Lebanon — a move that has the potential to spark fighting even deadlier than anything seen since Oct. 7.
Despite the body blows dealt by Israel, Hezbollah’s deputy leader claimed Monday that the group’s “military capabilities are solid,” that it “will continue along the same path” it has been on for months – and that it is ready for a war with Israel.
Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London and reports for all platforms, including the “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and CBS News 24/7. He has extensive experience reporting from major global flashpoints, including the Middle East and the war on terror.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to assist a Greek-flagged oil tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea “in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations claimed late Wednesday. However, the Houthis did not offer specific details and are believed to have blocked an earlier attempt to salvage the vessel and continue to attack shipping across the Red Sea.
Last week’s attack on the Sounion marked the most serious assault in weeks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion in trade that typically passes through the region, as well as halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen.
Iran’s U.N. mission said Wednesday that following the fire on the Sounion “and the subsequent environmental hazards,” several countries it didn’t identify reached out to the Houthis “requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area.”
“Ansar Allah has consented to this,” the Iranian mission said, using another name for the Houthis. It offered no further details, nor did the Houthis, who have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea, detained aid workers, deployed child soldiers and cracked down on dissent since holding Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam, in comments carried by the Houthi-controlled SABA news agency, said late Wednesday that the attack showed how serious the rebels took their campaign against shipping.
“After several international parties contacted us, especially the European ones, they were allowed to tow the burning oil ship Sounion,” Abdul-Salam said, without giving further details.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that attempts by an unidentified “third party” to send two tugboats to the stricken Sounion were blocked by the Houthis. Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the Houthis’ actions demonstrate “their blatant disregard for not only human life, but also for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents.”
Ryder said the Sounion appears to be leaking oil into the Red Sea, home to coral reefs and other natural habitats and wildlife. However, the European Union’s Operation Aspides, whose mission is to protect shipping in the area, said as recently as Wednesday the ship was not leaking oil.
The Houthis in their campaign have seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
In the case of the Sounion, the Houthis have claimed the Greek company operating the vessel had other ships serving Israel. The Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational organization overseen by the U.S. Navy, assessed that the Sounion “has no direct association with Israel, U.S. or U.K. within the company business structure” though other ships had “visited Israel in the recent past.”
Three fires blazed on a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Friday, one day after rescuers evacuated its crew in the wake of an assault by Yemeni Houthi militants.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said on Thursday that they had attacked the Sounion oil tanker as part of their 10-month campaign against commercial shipping to support Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Houthis first damaged the tanker on Wednesday with repeated attacks that caused a fire and a loss of engine power. A European warship later rescued her crew of 25. The uncrewed vessel was anchored between Yemen and Eritrea, a maritime security source told Reuters on Thursday.
On Friday, UKMTO said in an advisory that it had received reports of three fires on the vessel, which “appears to be drifting.” Later in the day, the Houthis posted a video on social media that purportedly showed them setting the tanker on fire.
The damaged tanker, carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil, poses an environmental hazard, the EU’s Red Sea naval mission Aspides said.
“A potential spill could lead to disastrous consequences for the region’s marine environment,” the Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority said in a post on the social media site X on Friday.
The largest recorded ship-source spill was in 1979, when about 287,000 tonnes of oil escaped from the Atlantic Empress after it collided with another crude carrier in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago during a storm, according to International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.
The Sounion was the third vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers to come under Houthi attack this month.
The Houthis said it attacked the tanker in part because Delta Tankers’ violated its ban on “entry to the ports of occupied Palestine,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.
“Delta Tankers is doing everything it can to move the vessel (and cargo). For security reasons, we are not in a position to comment further,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
For months, the U.S. Navy has operated out of the Red Sea at a pace not seen in decades, as the military responds to Houthi targeting of commercial ships. Norah ’O’Donnell reports.
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New attack comes two weeks after Iran-aligned group said it targeted three vessels and a US warship.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi armed group says it attacked US and Israeli vessels, with a Western coalition of warships defending amid the continuing fallout from the war on Gaza.
Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesman, said in a video address late on Wednesday that the Houthis hit the Maersk Yorktown cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.
The US military confirmed that the Houthis launched an antiship ballistic missile from their territory towards the vessel, which it identified as a “US-flagged, owned, and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members”.
“There were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition, or commercial ships,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
The Greek Ministry of National Defence said on Thursday that one of the country’s military ships serving in the European Union’s naval mission to counter the Houthis in the Red Sea intercepted two drones launched towards a commercial ship from Yemen.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had earlier confirmed an incident some 72 nautical miles (133km) southeast of the port of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) April 24, 2024
Saree said the group targeted the Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean and launched projectiles at a US warship.
The US military said within two hours of the attack on the Maersk Yorktown, its forces “successfully engaged and destroyed” four drones over Yemen.
“These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels,” it said.
The Houthis, who support the Palestinian armed group Hamas, have been launching attacks on vessels in waters near their shores since November in a stated claim to stop Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The group gradually expanded its attacks from Israeli-linked ships to US and UK-owned commercial vessels and warships as Washington mobilised a maritime coalition to defend against the attacks, and along with the British military targeted Yemeni soil with numerous air raids.
According to the US Maritime Administration, in addition to seizing a commercial vessel in November and sinking a UK-owned ship in March, the Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping since November.
The Houthi strikes have reduced in frequency in recent months as the group appears to have exhausted its stockpiles of missiles and drones after dozens of attacks while suffering from US and UK air raids. The previous attacks claimed by the group came on April 10, when it said it hit three US and Israeli-linked ships, along with a US warship.
The Houthi attacks have forced many vessels to opt against passing through the Red Sea to use the Suez Canal, instead going around Southern Africa, which makes their journeys weeks longer and more expensive.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their ongoing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways, which the group claims it is carrying out in response to Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unnamed official but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine.
However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the United States and its allies, which have so far been able to down any missile or bomb-carrying drone that comes near their warships in Mideast waters.
Meanwhile, Iran and the U.S. reportedly held indirect talks in Oman, the first in months amid their long-simmering tensions over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and attacks by its proxies.
A truck carries a missile said by officials to be an Iranian-made Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile during an annual military parade in Tehran, Sept. 22, 2023.
AFP/Getty
Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, claims to have a hypersonic missile and is widely accused of arming the rebels with the missiles they now use. Adding a hypersonic missile to their arsenal could pose a more-formidable challenge to the air defense systems employed by America and its allies, including Israel.
“The group’s missile forces have successfully tested a missile that is capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 8 and runs on solid fuel,” a military official close to the Houthis said, according to the RIA report. The Houthis “intend to begin manufacturing it for use during attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel.”
Mach 8 is eight times the speed of sound.
Russia has maintained close ties with Iran, relying on Iranian bomb-carrying drones to target Ukraine. Russian state media, particularly its Arabic-language services, have closely reported on Yemen’s yearslong civil war that pits the Iran-backed Houthis against forces of the internationally backed Yemeni government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds higher than Mach 5, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.
The danger from a hypersonic missile depends on how maneuverable it is. Ballistic missiles fly on a trajectory in which anti-missile systems like the U.S.-made Patriot can anticipate their path and intercept them. The more irregular the missile’s flight path, such as a hypersonic missile with the ability to change directions, the more difficult it becomes to intercept.
China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is America. Russia claims it has already used them on the battlefield in Ukraine. However, speed and maneuverability isn’t a guarantee the missile will successfully strike a target. Ukraine’s air force in May said it shot down a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile with a Patriot battery.
In Yemen, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the Houthi rebels’ secretive supreme leader, boasted about the rebels’ weapons efforts at the end of February.
“We have surprises that the enemies do not expect at all,” he warned at the time.
A week ago, he similarly warned: “What is coming is greater.”
“The enemy … will see the level of achievements of strategic importance that place our country in its capabilities among the limited and numbered countries in this world,” al-Houthi said, without elaborating.
After seizing Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the Houthis ransacked government arsenals, which held Soviet-era Scud missiles and other arms.
As the Saudi-led coalition entered Yemen’s conflict in 2015, the Houthis arsenal was increasingly targeted. Soon — and despite Yemen having no indigenous missile manufacturing infrastructure — newer missiles made their way into rebel hands.
Iran long has denied arming the Houthis, likely because of a yearslong United Nations arms embargo on the rebels. However, the U.S. and its allies have seized multiple arms shipments bound for the rebels in Mideast waters. Weapons experts as well have tied Houthi arms seized on the battlefield back to Iran.
Iran also now claims to have a hypersonic weapon. In June, Iran unveiled its Fattah, or “Conqueror” in Farsi, missile, which it described as being a hypersonic. It described another as being in development.
Iran’s mission to the U.N. did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, nor did the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, which patrols Mideast waterways.
Israel’s military — which also has come under Houthi fire since the war against Hamas erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage — declined to comment.
Also Thursday, The Financial Times reported that the U.S. and Iran held indirect talks in Oman in January “to end attacks on ships in the Red Sea.” The last known round of such talks had come last May.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency indirectly acknowledged the talks but insisted they were “merely limited to negotiations on lifting anti-Iran sanctions.”
The U.S. State Department did not immediately acknowledge the talks or comment.
The Houthis have attacked ships since November, saying they want to force Israel to end the war in Gaza, which has seen over 31,000 Palestinians killed in the besieged strip. The ships attacked, however, have increasingly had little or no connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war.
But the assaults have raised the profile of the Houthis, whose Zaydi people ruled a 1,000-year kingdom in Yemen up until 1962. Adding a new weapon to their arsenal would put more pressure on Israel after a cease-fire deal failed to take hold in Gaza before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Earlier in March, a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel. It marked their first fatal attack by the Houthis on shipping.
Other recent Houthi actions include an attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which later sank after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
A new suspected Houthi attack targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, but missed the vessel and caused no damage, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he wouldn’t be surprised if Iran transferred a new, hypersonic weapon to the Houthis. However, the question is how maneuverable such a weapon would be at hypersonic speeds and whether it could hit moving targets, like ships in the Red Sea.
“I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that the Houthis have some system that has some maneuvering capability to some extent,” Hinz said. “It is also possible for the Iranians to transfer new stuff for the Houthis to test it.”
Here’s a look at the Arab League, an organization of Middle Eastern and African countries and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt is the current secretary-general of the Arab League.
There are also four observer states: Eritrea, India, Brazil and Venezuela.
The Arab League’s purpose, from the Pact of the League of Arab States, is to promote closer political, economic, cultural and social relations among the members.
A council composed of representatives from the member states works together to settle disputes peacefully. The league has five major committees: political, economic, social and cultural, legal and Palestinian affairs.
Each member has one vote on the council. Decisions are only binding to the states that have voted for them.
March 22, 1945 – The Arab League is created in Cairo with seven Arab countries – Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Lebanese Republic, Yemen (Sanaa), Transjordan (now Jordan), Egypt and Syria.
Since 1945, 16 other members have joined – Libya (1953), Sudan (1956), Morocco (1958), Tunisia (1958), Kuwait (1961), Algeria (1962), Yemen (Aden, 1968), Bahrain (1971), Oman (1971), Qatar (1971), United Arab Emirates (1971), Mauritania (1973), Somalia (1974), the PLO (1976), Djibouti (1977) and Comoros (1993).
April 13, 1950 – League members sign an agreement on joint defense and economic cooperation.
1959 – The league holds the first Arab petroleum congress.
1964 – The league organizes the Arab League Education, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).
1976 – ARABSAT, an Arab communications satellite system, is formed.
March 26, 1979 – Egypt signs a peace treaty with Israel. The league suspends Egypt’s membership and transfers its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis, Tunisia.
1989 – Egypt is readmitted to the league; later the headquarters is moved back to Cairo.
1990 – Yemen (Aden) and Yemen (Sanaa) unite as Yemen.
August 1990 – The league is divided over the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. Members are split on a vote for a proposal to send Arab troops to join the troops defending Saudi Arabia from possible attack. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Djibouti and Somalia endorse the presence of foreign troops in Saudi Arabia.
2003 – All league members except Kuwait officially oppose a US-led war against Iraq. However, some members in addition to Kuwait, including Bahrain and Qatar, allow their territory to be used.
April 23, 2006 – Arab League Spokesman Hisham Yusif announces that the organization has promised to transfer $50 million to the Hamas-governed Palestinian Authority. This is in reaction the United States and European Union cutting off direct funding to the Hamas-led government that assumed power March 30.
February 22, 2011 – The Arab League releases a statement saying it is suspending Libya’s participation in Arab League meetings and all of the group’s agencies. The statement also condemns what it calls crimes against protesters and peaceful strikers in Libya.
March 3, 2011 – A summit scheduled for March 29 in Baghdad, Iraq, is postponed due to unrest in several Arab League countries.
March 12, 2011 – The Arab League asks the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
July 13, 2011 – Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby visits Syria and meets with President Bashar al-Assad.
November 12, 2011 – The Arab League suspends Syria’s membership, effective November 16, 2011, in response to Syria’s continued violence against its own citizens. 18 members vote in favor of the suspension, while Lebanon and Yemen vote no. Iraq abstains from voting.
December 19, 2011 – Syria signs an Arab League proposal aimed at ending violence between government forces and protesters.
December 26, 2011 – Members of an Arab League delegation arrive in Syria to monitor events on the ground.
January 28, 2012 – The Arab League suspends its mission in Syria as violence in the country continues.
November 12, 2012 – State media reports that the Arab League has approved the resolution to recognize the new National Coalition Forces of the Syrian Revolution, which unites Syrian opposition factions.
March 28-29, 2015 – The 26th Arab League Summit takes place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. All of the leaders agree to create a multi-national military force in order to combat threats to the Middle East.
July 25, 2016 – The Arab League Summit is held in Nouakchott, Mauritania, but only seven leaders of the 22 member countries attend. The meetings focus on fighting terrorism and how to deal with other conflicts in the region.
February 24-25, 2019 – The first ever EU-Arab League summit is held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The U.S. and U.K together launched “more than a dozen” airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen Saturday, two U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News. This is the fourth round of joint coalition strikes since Jan. 11 to pressure the Houthis to stop attacking commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
The strikes hit 18 Houthi targets across eight locations in Yemen, according to a joint statement released by a coalition of nations involved in Saturday’s actions — which included the militaries of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
The strikes targeted “Houthi underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter,” the statement read.
In the past few weeks, the U.S. has also taken more than 30 self-defense strikes against Houthi weapons that were “prepared to launch” to conduct attacks on commercial or U.S. Navy ships, according to U.S. Central Command.
Despite the barrage of strikes, the Houthis have continued to launch missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. As of this week, U.S. defense officials said there had been at least 60 Houthi attacks since November 19.
“We never said that we were taking every single capability that the Houthis have off the map, but every single day that we conduct a strike, we are degrading them further,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Tuesday.
“And so I think the [Defense] Secretary has confidence that the more we continue to do this, the Houthis are going to – they are already seeing the effects,” Singh said.
The Houthis have linked their attacks to the war between Israel and Hamas, pledging to keep targeting ships aiding Israel’s war, but U.S. officials say that many of the ships the Houthis have targeted have no connection to Israel or the conflict in Gaza.
“The Houthis’ now more than 45 attacks on commercial and naval vessels since mid-November constitute a threat to the global economy, as well as regional security and stability, and demand an international response,” Saturday’s joint statement read. “Our coalition of likeminded countries remains committed to protecting freedom of navigation and international commerce and holding the Houthis accountable for their illegal and unjustifiable attacks on commercial shipping and naval vessels.”
Yemen’s Houthi followers carry their rifles as they participate in a rally and parade staged against Israel, the U.S., U.K. and their allies on Feb. 22, 2024, in Sana’a, Yemen.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — A suspected missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels set a ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday as Israel intercepted what appeared to be another Houthi attack near the port city of Eilat, authorities said. The attacks come as the Iran-backed rebels escalate their assaults over Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack Thursday in the Gulf of Aden saw two missiles fired, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the unnamed ship was ablaze, without elaborating.
Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press identified the vessel as a Palau-flagged cargo ship named Islander. It had been coming from Thailand bound for Egypt and previously sent out messages saying “SYRIAN CREW ON BOARD” to potentially avoid being targeted by the Houthis.
Getty/iStockphoto
“The missile attack lead to a fire onboard and coalition military assets were responding to the incident,” the private security firm Ambrey said.
The ship’s Liberian-listed owners could not be immediately reached for comment.
Israel intercepts missile headed for Red Sea port
Sirens sounded early Thursday morning over Eilat, followed by videos posted online of what appeared to be an interception in the sky overhead. The Israeli military later said the interception was carried out by its Arrow missile defense system.
Israel did not identify what the fire was, nor where it came from. However, the Arrow system intercepts long-range ballistic missiles with a warhead designed to destroy targets while they are in space.
The system “successfully intercepted a launch which was identified in the area of the Red Sea and was en route to Israel,” the Israeli military said. “The target did not cross into Israeli territory and did not pose a threat to civilians.”
The Houthis did not immediately claim either attack. They typically acknowledge assaults they conduct hours afterward.
Eilat, on the Red Sea, is a key port city of Israel. On Oct. 31, Houthis first claimed a missile-and-drone barrage targeting the city. The rebels have claimed other attacks targeting Eilat, which have caused no damage in the city.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over Israel’s war against Hamas. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor.
Houthi attacks continue despite U.S.-led strikes in Yemen
Despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. This week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and shot down an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
A U.S. defense official confirmed to CBS News that a Houthi surface to air missile downed a Reaper drone, adding that U.S. aircraft and coalition warships shot down 10 one-way suicide drones on Monday evening, as the U.S. carried out more strikes in Yemen, this time targeting a surface to air missile launch site and another drone that was being prepared for launch.
Over the weekend, CENTCOM said it had also carried out a self-defense strike in Yemen against a Houthi unmanned underwater vessel, the first time the U.S. has reported the Shiite Muslim rebels using an underwater drone since attacks in the Red Sea region started in October.
The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks until Israel stops its combat operations in the Gaza Strip, which have enraged the wider Arab world and seen the Houthis gain international recognition.
On Wednesday, ships in the Red Sea off the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida in Yemen reported seeing an explosion, though all vessels in the area were said to be safe, the UKTMO said. The UKMTO earlier reported heavy drone activity in the area.
The U.S. State Department criticized “the reckless and indiscriminate attacks on civilian cargo ships by the Houthis” that have delayed humanitarian aid including food and medicine bound for Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen. That includes the Sea Champion, a ship carrying corn and other aid to both Aden and Hodeida.
CBS News
“Contrary to what the Houthis may attempt to claim, their attacks do nothing to help the Palestinians,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. “Their actions are not bringing a single morsel of assistance or food to the Palestinian people.”
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of CENTCOM, told “60 Minutes” that despite the ongoing attacks in the vital shipping lanes, it’s clear the U.S. military is degrading the Houthis’ capability.
“Every single day they attempt to attack us, we’re eliminating and disrupting them in ways that are meaningful, and I do believe have an impact,” he told Norah O’Donnell.
Cooper said he has an endgame in mind, which is “the restoration of the free flow of commerce and safe navigation in the Southern Red Sea,” but he didn’t say when that could be expected.
RED Sea ships face a new deadly threat from underwater drones, US forces have warned.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have deployed an “unmanned underwater vehicle” for the first time, America’s CentCom headquarters revealed.
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Iran’s homegrown new marine drones may have been used by the Houthi rebels in the attackCredit: IRNA
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The US said it is the first time the militia group had used underwater dronesCredit: IRNA
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The Houthis have been relentlessly targeting ships in the Red SeaCredit: Getty
The US did not release details of the underwater drone it destroyed.
But pictures of the parts seized on the smuggler’s boat on Jan 28 showed what looked like a torpedo propeller.
It could be the similar model to what Iran unveiled in December – a new devastating and secretive homegrown submarine drone which can go as deep as 200m.
Iran’s new toy acts like a torpedo by moving stealthily towards its target and exploding.
The attack on the 170m-long Rubymar was by far the most damaging since Oct 23, when Houthi rebels ramped up their attacks in response to the Israel Gaza war.
Earlier, the US Red Sea task force said it destroyed a mini-submarine, a surface maritime drone and three anti-ship cruise missiles over the weekend.
All five weapons posed an imminent threat to US warships and merchant vessels in the region, CentCom added.
The strikes came days after US officials revealed their seized underwater drone parts on a gun-runners’ boat in the Arabian Sea.
A US Coastguard cutter stormed the unnamed vessel packed with weapons components from Iran.
CentCom said: “The boarding team discovered over 200 packages that contained medium-range ballistic missile components, explosives, unmanned underwater [and] surface vehicle components, military-grade communication and network equipment, anti-tank guided missile launcher assemblies, and other military components.”
Their warped slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam”.
Why are they attacking ships?
The rebel group has been launching relentless drone and missile attacks on any ships – including warships – they deem to be connected with Israel in solidarity with their ally, Hamas.
However, in reality there have been frequent attacks on commercial vessels with little or no link to Israel – forcing global sea traffic to halt operations in the region and sending shipping prices soaring.
The sea assaults have threatened to ignite a full-blown war in the Middle East as intense ripples from Israel’s war in Gaza are felt across the region – with Iran suspected of stoking the chaos.
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea increased 50 per cent between November and December as the rebel group’s chiefs pledged their assaults would continue until Israel stopped its offensive in Gaza.
And despite repeated threats from the West and joint US and UK strikes blitzing their strongholds in Yemen – Iran’s terror proxy appears undeterred.
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The unmanned Iranian sea drone at workCredit: IRNA
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Alleged debris of the US drone dragged through the water by Houthis
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The Iranian proxy claimed to have downed the US drone near HodeidahCredit: EPA
First, an inside look at the U.S. Navy response to Houthi Red Sea attacks. Then, a Trump fake elector in Wisconsin speaks out. And, Cillian Murphy: The 60 Minutes Interview.
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For months, the U.S. Navy has operated out of the Red Sea at a pace not seen in decades, as the military responds to Houthi targeting of commercial ships. Norah ’O’Donnell reports.
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Iranian support has been critical for the Houthis as they bombard commercial ships in the Red Sea, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a recent “60 Minutes” interview.
The Houthis, a Shia militia from Yemen, have targeted at least 45 ships in recent months, disrupting crucial international shipping corridors, even as the U.S. Navy has moved into the Red Sea to push back against the group. They’re being aided by members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, Cooper said.
“The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is inside Yemen, and they are serving side by side with the Houthis, advising them and providing target information,” Cooper said.
That support goes back a decade, Cooper said, with Iran providing supplies to the Houthis for years.
“They’re resupplying them as we sit here right now at sea,” Cooper said. “We know this is happening. They’re advising them, and they’re providing target information. This is crystal clear.”
On Thursday, U.S. Central Command announced that on Jan. 28, a U.S. Coast Guard ship in the Arabian Sea seized weapons originating in Iran and bound for Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The boarding team found more than 200 packages containing medium-range ballistic missile components, explosives, unmanned underwater/surface vehicle components, military-grade communication and network equipment, anti-tank guided missile launcher assemblies and other military components.
“This is yet another example of Iran’s malign activity in the region,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement. “Their continued supply of advanced conventional weapons to the Houthis is in direct violation of international law and continues to undermine the safety of international shipping and the free flow of commerce.”
Houthi attacks on ships began after war broke out in Israel and Gaza, even though President Biden had warned Iran and its allies to stay out of the conflict.
The Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital in 2014 and now control about one third of the country, initially stated they would only shoot at ships linked to Israel, but the Houthis have fired at ships tied to dozens of nations. The U.S. government in January re-designated the Houthi movement as a terrorist organization as the group stepped up attacks in the Red Sea.
Amid the ongoing attacks, Norah O’Donnell headed to the Red Sea. She was the first journalist to report from the southern Red Sea in the air, on the water, and inside a U.S. military command center. Her full report on the Red Sea crisis is set to air on 60 Minutes on Feb. 18, 2024.
This week on “Face the Nation,” Margaret Brennan speaks to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan after the U.S. launched strikes against Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, the latest retaliation after a drone strike last week killed three Americans. Plus, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema discusses the latest in the Senate immigration negotiations.
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WASHINGTON — The United States and Britain struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday in a second wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have relentlessly attacked American and international interests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. But Washington once more did not directly target Iran as it tries to find a balance between a forceful response and intensifying the conflict.
U.S. Central Command said its forces conducted an additional strike on Sunday “in self-defense against a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” according to a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“U.S. forces identified the cruise missile in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined it presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region. This action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels,” the post added.
The strikes on Saturday against the Houthis were launched by U.S. warships and American and British fighter jets. The strikes followed an air assault in Iraq and Syria on Friday that targeted other Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend.
The Houthi targets on Saturday were in 13 different locations and were struck by U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, by British Typhoon FGR4 fighter aircraft and by the Navy destroyers USS Gravely and the USS Carney firing Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea, according to U.S. officials and the U.K. Defense Ministry. The U.S. officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. warned its response after the soldiers’ deaths at the Tower 22 base in Jordan last Sunday would not be limited to one night, one target or one group. While there has been no suggestion the Houthis were directly responsible, they have been one of the prime U.S. adversaries since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said that more than 26,000 people have been killed and more than 64,400 wounded in the Israeli military operation since the war began.
The Houthis have been conducting almost daily missile or drone attacks against commercial and military ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and they have made clear that they have no intention of scaling back their campaign despite pressure from the American and British campaign.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi official, said “military operations against Israel will continue until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped and the siege on its residents is lifted, no matter the sacrifices it costs us.” He wrote online that the “American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered, and we will meet escalation with escalation.”
The Biden administration has indicated that this is likely not the last of its strikes. The U.S. has blamed the Jordan attack on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias. Iran has tried to distance itself from the drone strike, saying the militias act independently of its direction.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the military action, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, “sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.”
He added: “We will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways.”
The Defense Department said the strikes targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, radars and helicopters. The British military said it struck a ground control station west of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, that has been used to control Houthi drones that have launched against vessels in the Red Sea.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the strikes before he left Delaware on Saturday for a West Coast campaign trip, according to an administration official.
The latest strikes marked the third time the U.S. and Britain had conducted a large joint operation to strike Houthi weapon launchers, radar sites and drones. The strikes in Yemen are meant to underscore the broader message to Iran that Washington holds Tehran responsible for arming, funding and training the array of militias – from Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen – who are behind attacks across the Mideast against U.S. and international interests.
Video shared online by people in Sanaa included the sound of explosions and at least one blast was seen lighting up the night sky. Residents described the blasts as happening around buildings associated with the Yemeni presidential compound. The Houthi-controlled state-run news agency, SABA, reported strikes in al-Bayda, Dhamar, Hajjah, Hodeida, Taiz and Sanaa provinces.
Hours before the latest joint operation, the U.S. took another self-defense strike on a site in Yemen, destroying six anti-ship cruise missiles, as it has repeatedly when it has detected a missile or drone ready to launch. The day before the strikes the U.S. destroyer Laboon and F/A-18s from the Eisenhower shot down seven drones fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Red Sea and the destroyer Carney shot down a drone fired in the Gulf of Aden and U.S. forces took out four more drones that were prepared to launch.
The Houthis’ attacks have led shipping companies to reroute their vessels from the Red Sea, sending them around Africa through the Cape of Good Hope – a much longer, costlier and less efficient passage. The threats also have led the U.S. and its allies to set up a joint mission where warships from participating nations provide a protective umbrella of air defense for ships as they travel the critical waterway that runs from the Suez Canal down to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
During normal operations, about 400 commercial vessels transit the southern Red Sea at any given time.
In the wake of the strikes Friday in Iraq and Syria, Hussein al-Mosawi, spokesperson for Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the main Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, said Washington “must understand that every action elicits a reaction.” But in an AP interview in Baghdad, he also struck a more conciliatory tone. “We do not wish to escalate or widen regional tensions,” he said.
Iraqi officials have attempted to rein in the militias, while also condemning U.S. retaliatory strikes as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and calling for an exit of the 2,500 U.S. troops who are in the country as part of an international coalition to fight the Islamic State group. Last month, Iraqi and U.S. military officials launched formal talks to wind down the coalition’s presence, a process that will likely take years.
