SANAA: A White House official on Sunday said a wave of United States air strikes on Yemen killed senior Houthi rebel leaders and sent a message to their Iranian backers.
Attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said.
US President Donald Trump said he had ordered Saturday night’s strikes and threatened more if the rebels kept up their attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping.
The rebels have carried out no attacks in the waterways since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but on Tuesday said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping.
US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News the strikes “targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out.”
He told Fox News: “We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”
The Huthis, who have fought for years in their country, vowed a response.
Witnesses to the bombing said on Sunday they were taken aback by its intensity.
Footage on Huthi media showed children, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages, and a woman being treated in hospital.
One father of two, who gave his name as Ahmed, told AFP his “house shook, the windows shattered, and my family and I were terrified”.
“I’ve been living in Sanaa for 10 years, hearing shelling throughout the war. By God, I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” he said. Trump, posting on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.
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