Fresh Strike Targets Radar Site in Sanaa, Signaling Prolonged American Military Operation in Yemen

The U.S. forces launched an additional strike on Yemen's Sanaa in early Saturday, targeting a Houthi-controlled site. This fresh attack came one day after the American and British aircraft carried out dozens of airstrikes, hitting over 60 targets in six Houthi-controlled provinces.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement today, "U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen."

It added, "This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi's ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels."

Houthi-run media reported that the U.S. and British warplanes launched new airstrikes on Yemen's capital, Sanaa, today, Saturday, before dawn. The airstrikes hit the northern part of the capital, causing powerful explosions and shaking nearby houses.

Sanaa is surrounded by mountains, which have been used by the Houthis and militaries of all former regimes in the country as military sites.

In November of last year, Sheba Intelligence obtained information about the Houthi group's installation of a radar network in the mountains surrounding the capital, Sana'a. A military source said, "Iranian experts were able to maintain the radar network that belonged to the Republican Guard during the days of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and it is of French origin. The radar network began to operate to discover threats. "

Moreover, sources told Sheba Intelligence that the Houthis began working on the military base on Kamaran Island in the middle of this year and accelerated the process since last October following the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. According to the source, equipment, including surveillance devices and at least two radars, were transferred and installed in two places on Kamaran Island. Combat boats, unmanned explosive boats, forces, and specialists were also transferred to the strategic island between June and August.

As the U.S. says it is ready to strike again, Yemen's Houthi group has warned of "severe retaliation" for the strikes, vowing to make the West pay for their "aggression". All U.S. and UK interests are now "legitimate targets," the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council said on Friday. It added, "The Yemeni response is legitimate within the framework of the sacred defence of Yemen, its sovereignty, independence and freedom of decision-making."

President Joe Biden warned on Friday that he could order more strikes on Houthis if attacks against merchant and military vessels in the Red Sea do not stop.

"We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behaviour," Biden told reporters in Pennsylvania on Friday.

Hugh Lovatt, a Mideast expert for the European Council on Foreign Relations, said, "This is already a regional war, no longer limited to Gaza, but already spread to Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen."

According to Lovatt, Washington wanted to demonstrate that it was ready to deter Iranian provocations and placed its aircraft carriers and fighters in a position to respond quickly. But those same positions leave the United States more exposed, he said.