Two U.S. destroyers and F/A18-E/F Super Hornets flying from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) joined in a multi-national strike on 13 locations in Yemen, USNI News has learned.
Guided-missile destroyers USS Carney (DDG-64) and USS Gravely (DDG-107) fired an unspecified number of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles at the Houthi targets in Yemen while the Super Hornets used Joint Direct Attack Munition against the targets, a defense official confirmed to USNI News on Saturday.
The U.S. and U.K. forces struck the targets with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand, according to a Pentagon statement.
“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade, and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since previous coalition strikes on January 11 and 22, 2024, including the January 27 attack which struck and set ablaze the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker M/V Marlin Luanda,” reads the statement.
“Today’s strike specifically targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and radars.”
Around 4 a.m. Sunday, local time, Central Command forces struck a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile that it said was posed to launch against Red Sea ships, according to a Central Command release. The release did not specify which forces were involved.
The weekend’s strikes follow retaliation strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq that have continued to fire missiles and send attack drones at U.S. installations in the region.
Last week, three U.S. soldiers were killed and almost 50 other U.S. personnel were injured after a strike on Tower 22, an installation in Jordan perched on the border of both Iraq and Syria.
On Friday, U.S. Air Force bombers hit 85 targets connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Quds Force.
The U.S. Navy made other actions connected to the ongoing Operation Prosperity Guardian.
U.S. Navy warships shot down a number of Houthi-launched drones Friday. Carney shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle over the Gulf of Aden around 10:30 a.m. local time.
Central Command forces then struck four Houthi drones that were prepared to launch around 4:40 p.m., according to a Central Command release Saturday.
The Houthis then launched seven drones over the Red Sea, which were shot down by USS Laboon (DDG-58) and F/A-18 Super Hornets attached to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group. No injuries or damage were reported.
The Houthis promised retaliation for the U.S. strikes, according to a post on social media site X by spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Sare’e.
“These attacks will not deter us from our moral, religious and humanitarian stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and will not pass without response and punishment,” Sare’e posted.
