WASHINGTON -- The United States military on Tuesday said it hit targets in Yemen targeting the Houthi militia, hours after the Iran-backed group launched attacks on Israel.
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said its warships and aircraft attacked a number of Houthi-linked sites, including a command center and facilities used for the production and storage of weapons.
The buildings reportedly held missiles and drones used in Houthi attacks on the U.S. Navy and international merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
A radar facility and several of the militia's cruise missiles were also destroyed in the attacks on Monday and Tuesday, CENTCOM said.
"The strikes are a part of CENTCOM's effort to degrade Iran-backed Houthi efforts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region," the command said on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The Houthi-affiliated television station al-Masirah reported at least 10 attacks by the U.S. and Britain in Yemen.
Two of the strikes were reportedly aimed at the Houthi Defence Ministry in the capital Sana'a.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam described the attacks as a "blatant breach of the sovereignty of an independent state."
Houthis Attack Tel Aviv
Like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, the Houthi are allied with Israel's arch-enemy Iran.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, the Houthi have repeatedly fired rockets at Israel and at merchant ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Hamas.
On Tuesday, the militia claimed to have attacked the international airport in Tel Aviv as well as targets in Jerusalem.
Houthi military spokesman Yehya Saree said in a televised statement that Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and an electricity plant in the Jerusalem area had been attacked with ballistic missiles.
He also claimed that a "major air attack" by the U.S. military with drones and cruise missiles had been repelled.
"We are ready to confront any Zionist-American threats aimed at preventing Yemen from fulfilling its religious, moral and humanitarian duty towards Palestine," the military spokesman said.
The Israeli military said that its air defences had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.
Hundreds of thousands of people rushed to shelters shortly before midnight when sirens sounded in the coastal city of Tel Aviv and other places in central Israel.
The missile was intercepted outside Israel's borders, it said.
According to local media, falling rocket debris did not cause any major damage, but a large fragment hit a road in a town near Jerusalem.
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