US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees military operations in the Middle East, on December 30 and 31 conducted multiple precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets in Sanaa and other coastal locations in Yemen.

US Navy ships and aircraft targeted a Houthi command-and-control facility and advanced conventional weapon production and storage facilities that included missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), CENTCOM said in a statement.

The targeted facilities "were used in Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," the statement added.

US Navy and US Air Force aircraft also destroyed a Houthi coastal radar site and seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs over the Red Sea, it said.

US military jets conducted a total of 12 air raids targeting two separate districts in Sanaa, according to Houthi-run Al Masirah TV, as cited by Al Jazeera.

The latest US strikes came after Israel's military on December 26 hit multiple Houthi-linked targets in Yemen, including Sanaa International Airport and three ports along the western coast.

The targets included military infrastructure at the airport and power stations in Sanaa and al-Hodeidah, as well as other facilities at al-Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports, an Israeli statement said.

"These military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials," the statement said.

Houthi aggression

The recent strikes were part of CENTCOM's effort to degrade the Houthi threat to regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region, it said.

The Iran-allied group in Yemen has been bombarding commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden.

In March, a Houthi missile strike killed three crew members aboard the Barbados-flagged cargo ship True Confidence.

The same month, the Houthis attacked the Belize-flagged, Lebanese-operated Rubymar, which sank in the Red Sea with 21,000 tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer on board.

The violence, which has affected more than 55 nations, has forced major shipping companies to reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, adding up to two weeks to transit times and increasing shipping costs.

Since December 2023, the multinational security initiative Operation Prosperity Guardian has been protecting ships in the Red Sea under the auspices of the Combined Maritime Forces and its Task Force 153.