The Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen on Friday claimed they attacked the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower with rockets and missiles in the Red Sea.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed Houthi “rocket and naval forces” conducted a “joint operation” that scored a “precise hit” on the Eisenhower.
Saree said the alleged strike was conducted “within the framework of reacting to the U.S.-UK aggression.”
Saree was referring to joint American and British airstrikes conducted overnight against Houthi targets, prompted by a spike in Houthi attacks on civilian ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis claimed 16 people were killed and 42 wounded by these airstrikes, the highest casualty count the Yemeni insurgents have admitted to. The Houthis said most of the casualties were inflicted at a radio station controlled by the insurgency.
“This represents a clear targeting of civilian structures, a blatant violation of all international laws, and a full-fledged war crime,” said Saree.
U.S. officials said the airstrikes involved F/A-18 fighters taking off from the Eisenhower, with support from other American warships in the Red Sea.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the strikes were an act of “self-defense” intended to “degrade the military capabilities of the Houthis and to prevent further attacks on international shipping.”
“The utmost care was taken in planning the strikes to minimize any risk to civilians or nonmilitary infrastructure. Conducting the strikes in the hours of darkness should also have mitigated yet further any such risk,” the U.K. defense ministry said.
Houthi officials condemned the American and British airstrikes as “brutal aggression against Yemen as punishment for its position in support of Gaza” and accused Western nations of supporting Israel’s “crimes of genocide.”
The Houthis vowed to “meet escalation with escalation,” and said they would attack even more civilian targets along the Red Sea shipping lane in response.
A senior U.S. defense official said on Friday the Houthi claim of hitting the Eisenhower was false, and in fact the carrier strike group was unaware of any missiles being fired into its general vicinity. Carrier groups can detect incoming missiles from hundreds of miles away.
“There is no truth to those rumors,” a Pentagon press officer told Newsweek on Friday.
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