US Destroys Houthi Missile Systems after Red Sea Tanker Attacks

The US military announced Tuesday that it had destroyed two missile systems in an area controlled by the Houthis in Yemen within the past 24 hours, following the group's attack on two oil tankers in the Red Sea yesterday. The US Central Command said in a statement that it successfully destroyed the two missile systems, which were posing an imminent threat to US and coalition forces and commercial ships in the region. It added that "these actions were taken to protect the freedom of navigation and to make international waters safer for US and coalition forces and commercial ships." Earlier, the US military had reported that the Houthis attacked two oil tankers in the Red Sea on Monday. Central Command stated that the Houthis targeted the tankers with two ballistic missiles and a drone, resulting in damage to the vessels. The United States formed a multinational coalition in December 2023 to "protect maritime navigation in the Red Sea" after the Houthi group announced attacks on ships linked to Israel in so lidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza. The group's operations were later expanded to target vessels associated with the United States and the United Kingdom following strikes by those countries against Houthi positions in Yemen. Source: Qatar News Agency