U. S. Central Command said it struck two Houthi anti-ship missiles aimed at the southern Red Sea that were in position to be launched.
The US military attacked three facilities in Iraq and two anti-ship missiles in Yemen operated by Iranian-backed militias that continued to launch attacks against the mass of US workers and ships in the region.
Both the strikes in Iraq and Yemen targeted sites that the US has said are involved in the attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria and were threatening US military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the measures in Iraq were directed through President Joe Biden and targeted facilities used by the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah defense force and other Iran-affiliated outfits in Iraq.
“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against U.S. and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,” Mr Austin said.
The measures hit defense force installations in Jurf al-Sakhar, south of Baghdad, al-Qaim and some other unidentified ones in western Iraq, two U. S. officials said.
On Tuesday night, U. S. Central Command announced that it had also struck two Houthi anti-ship missiles aimed at the southern Red Sea and in position to be launched.
“U. S. forces are aware of the missiles in Houthi-controlled spaces in Yemen and have decided that they pose an imminent risk to merchant ships and U. S. Navy vessels in the region,” Central Command said.
Both fronts – ground attacks in Iraq and Syria, and sea attacks from Yemen – have seen a significant increase in launches and counterattacks in recent days.
In Iraq, US strikes on the Kataib Hezbollah sites came hours after the US said militants fired two one-way attack drones at al-Asad Air Base, injuring US service members and damaging infrastructure.
And they followed the militia’s most serious attack on the airbase this year, when it introduced several ballistic missiles on Saturday.
U. S. Central Command said it targeted Kataib Hezbollah’s headquarters, garage and sites for rocket, missile and one-way attack drone capabilities.
In Tuesday’s drone strikes on Assad, U. S. defenses managed to intercept the first drone, but it crashed into the base and the second drone hit the base, the U. S. said.
The injuries, in addition to head trauma and smoke inhalation, are thought to be minor. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide the main points that had been publicly announced.
Tuesday’s moves at Yemen’s Houthi missile launch sites were a joint operation Monday night in which the U. S. and U. K. used Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets introduced from warships and submarines to destroy garage sites, Houthi drones and missile launchers.
A coalition of militias calling themselves the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has taken credit for a series of attacks against US forces. Kataib Hezbollah is one of the teams within this umbrella organization.
Iran has also supplied the Houthis with ballistic missiles.