Fourth round of US strikes in Yemen as Houthis vow retaliation

WASHINGTON – The United States launched a fourth round of strikes on Houthi military positions in Yemen before dawn local time on Thursday, two officials told Al-Monitor, signaling a new round of back-and-forth fighting the Iran-backed faction refused to stop striking commercial shipping.

The strikes came hours after the Houthis hit a US-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel with an armed drone off Yemen’s southern coast on Wednesday. The Houthis on Wednesday claimed credit for that attack and renewed a threat to retaliate for last week’s US-led airstrikes against the group’s military sites.

The US and UK late last week launched two waves of airstrikes on more than 60 Houthi military targets after the group defied warnings by Washington and its allies.

The Houthis have struck at least three commercial vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the first wave of US-led strikes.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.