Yemen’s Houthis say they launched missile attack on US aircraft carrier Eisenhower

Yemen’s Houthis launched a missile attack on the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea in response to US and British strikes on Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Friday.

A US defense official, however, told Al Arabiya English that the Iranian-backed group’s claim was false.

Six US and British strikes have killed 16 people and wounded 41, including civilians, Saree said in a televised statement.

Strikes on the province of Hodeida targeted the port of Salif, a radio building in Al-Hawk district, Ghalifa camp and two houses, Saree said.

The US and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday to deter the militant group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.

The US Central Command said US and British forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

The British defense ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons.

“As ever, the utmost care was taken in planning the strikes to minimize any risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure,” the British defense ministry said.

“Conducting the strikes in the hours of darkness should also have mitigated yet further any such risks.”

Houthi spokesperson Mohamed Abdelsalam said the strikes were a “brutal aggression” against Yemen as punishment for its support of Gaza.

In Tehran, Houthi-allied Iran condemned the strikes as “violations of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity… international laws and human rights,” Iranian state media reported.

“The aggressor US and British governments are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.

The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas, drawing retaliatory US and British strikes since February.