30 May 2024 Yemen strikes | |||||||
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Part of the 2024 missile strikes in Yemen amidst the Red Sea crisis and spillover of the Israel–Hamas war | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
None |
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16 killed in total, including civilians (per Houthis) |
On 30 May 2024, the United States and United Kingdom conducted a joint set of airstrikes in Sanaa and Hodeidah, Yemen, killing 16 people and injuring 42. [4] [5] The United States and United Kingdom claimed that the strikes were targeting members of the Houthi rebel group; however, the Houthis claimed all those killed or injured in the strikes were civilians. [6]
The Iran-backed Houthi movement, which gained control of much of Yemen during its civil war, launched attacks against international shipping demanding a halt to Israel's operations in Gaza, in which over 36,000 Palestinians were killed. During their campaign, over 50 ships were attacked, one ship was seized, and three sailors were killed. The attacks caused a decline in shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. [7]
In January 2024, the United States and United Kingdom began retaliatory strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, seeking to degrade their capabilities. [4] The strikes killed 40 people and injured 35 others, according to the Houthis. [8]
The US said the strikes targeted underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel, and other sites. F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets took off from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower with participation from other warships in the Red Sea. Strikes took place outside of Sanaa and near its airport and in Taiz, where communication equipment was targeted. [9] One of the strikes used a 5,000-pound GBU-72 bomb to destroy an underground facility. [10] Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s, using Paveway IV guided bombs, conducted strikes on two drone ground control and storage facilities near Hodeidah and a command and control center in Ghulayfiqah. [8] [11] In total, 13 targets were struck in Yemen. [12]
The Houthis said that strikes in Hodeidah targeted two civilian houses, the headquarters of Hodeidah Radio in the Al Hawak District, Ghalifa camp, and the Port of Salif. [12] The strike on the radio building reportedly killed two people and wounded ten others. [7] The Houthis claimed that all the casualties in Hodeidah were civilians, [9] however a hospital worker in the city said that many militants were among the casualties, but did not give an exact number. [1] Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported six airstrikes in Sanaa: three on the al-Nahdayn Mountain, two in the Jarban area of the Sanhan district, and one near the Sanaa International Airport. [13]
The Houthis threatened to escalate attacks on shipping following the attacks. [1] Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed missile and drone attacks on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, but US officials denied this. [14] [15] Houthi spokesperson Mohamed Abdelsalam called the strikes a "brutal aggression" towards Yemen for backing and providing support to Gaza in the Israel–Hamas war. [16]
Iranian state media called the attacks a transgression of international law and human rights for minimizing "Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity", while Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani stated: "The aggressor US and British governments are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people." [17]
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier currently in service with the United States Navy. Commissioned in 1977, the ship is the second of ten Nimitz-class aircraft carriers currently in service, and is the first ship named after the 34th President of the United States and General of the Army, Dwight D. Eisenhower. The vessel was initially named simply as USS Eisenhower, much like the lead ship of the class, Nimitz, but the name was changed to its present form on 25 May 1970. The carrier, like all others of her class, was constructed at Newport News Shipbuilding Company in Virginia, with the same design as the lead ship, although the ship has been overhauled twice to bring her up to the standards of those constructed more recently.
USS Laboon (DDG-58) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named for Father John Francis Laboon (1921–1988), a captain in the Chaplain Corps of the United States Navy, who was awarded the Silver Star during World War II while serving on the submarine USS Peto.
USS Carney (DDG-64) is the 14th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy. The guided-missile destroyer is the first to be named after Admiral Robert Carney, who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower administration.
USS Mason (DDG-87) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She is named in honor of the Black crewmembers who served on board USS Mason (DE-529) during the period of racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
The Houthi movement, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaidi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely from the Houthi tribe.
The following lists events that happened in 2015 in Yemen.
On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched an intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni Civil War. Efforts by the United Nations to facilitate a power sharing arrangement under a new transitional government collapsed, leading to escalating conflict between government forces, Houthi rebels, and other armed groups, which culminated in Hadi fleeing to Saudi Arabia shortly before it began military operations in the country.
The Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi forces that has been taking place in the Arabian Peninsula, including the southern Saudi regions of Asir, Jizan, and Najran, and northern Yemeni governorates of Saada, Al Jawf, and Hajjah, since the onset of the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
The Battle of Port Midi refers to a battle during the Yemeni Civil War between the Saudi coalition-backed Hadi loyalists and the Houthi government. Although Hadi loyalists seized the port, the Houthi fighters along with the popular committees managed to conduct some attacks around Midi. The conflict also had spillovers in the rest of the Hajjah Governorate. On 26 January 2017, Hadi loyalists extended their control to Harad District in Hajjah Governorate.
The following is a timeline of the Yemeni civil war, which began in September 2014.
The siege of Al Hudaydah, codenamed Operation Golden Victory, was a major Saudi-led coalition assault on the port city of Al Hudaydah in Yemen. It was spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and has been considered as the largest battle since the start of Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
Events of 2020 in Yemen.
Events in the year 2023 in Yemen.
The Red Sea crisis began on 19 October 2023, when the Iran-backed Ansar Allah in Yemen launched missiles and armed drones at Israel, demanding an end to the invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have since seized and launched aerial attacks against dozens of merchant and naval vessels in the Red Sea, drawing hundreds of air strikes on missile sites and other targets by US and allied forces. The crisis is linked to the Israel–Hamas war, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, the Iran–United States proxy conflict, and the Yemeni crisis.
Events in the year 2024 in Yemen.
Operation Prosperity Guardian is a United States-led military operation by a multinational coalition formed in December 2023 to respond to Houthi-led attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
On 30 December 2023, Houthi forces in the Gulf of Aden attacked the Maersk commercial vessel Maersk Hangzhou. Early the next day, Houthis again attacked the Maersk Hangzhou, attempting to board the freighter. The Maersk Hangzhou made a distress signal, to which U.S. Navy forces of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and destroyer USS Gravely responded. The U.S., along with Maersk security personnel aboard the ship, repelled the attack. The U.S. sank three Houthi vessels, killing ten Houthis. Maersk announced a 48-hour pause on shipping through the Red Sea following the incident.
These are timelines of the Red Sea crisis, which began on 19 October 2023.
Since 12 January 2024, the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, have launched a series of cruise missile and airstrikes, codenamed Operation Poseidon Archer, against the Houthi movement in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis had previously declared that their attacks are in support of Palestinians during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war; Houthi attacks on shipping were condemned by the United Nations Security Council the day before the initial strike.
The militia acknowledged that the joint British-US airstrikes killed at least 16 people and wounded 42 of its fighters.