US forces struck an additional Houthi anti-ship cruise missile in Yemen early Sunday local time, according to US Central Command.
The strike was conducted in "self defense" against a Houthi cruise missile "prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea" at 4 a.m. local time on Sunday, US Central Command said in a statement.
US forces determined the cruise missile presented an "imminent threat" to US Navy ships and other vessels in the region.
The strike is a part of the US military's effort to deter the Houthis from further disrupting the global shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
11:58 p.m. ET, February 3, 2024
Israel says it has hit multiple Hezbollah targets in Syria and Lebanon since Gaza war began
From CNN's Michael Rios, Lauren Izso and Charbel Mallo
Israel’s military has attacked more than 3,400 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and more than 50 in Syria since the war in Gaza broke out 120 days ago, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
At a press briefing Saturday, Hagari said Israel has been trying to stop Hezbollah's “supply chain of ammunition and missiles,” which he alleged were being smuggled from Iran to Syria and then to Lebanon.
We locate these shipments and destroy them. They are destroyed before they reach Hezbollah,” Hagari said, adding: “We will continue to act wherever Hezbollah is present. We will continue to act wherever it is required in the Middle East.”
Hagari also said the Israeli military has deployed three divisions along the Lebanese border since October 7 -- instead of the usual single division to try to thwart Hezbollah's capabilities and protect people in northern Israel.
For the last four months, along with the war in Gaza, we have been waging a very intense battle on the northern front, aimed at reshaping the security reality so that the residents of the north can return to their homes safely,” Hagari said, adding: "So far we have attacked more than 150 terrorist units and eliminated more than 200 terrorists and commanders."
Hezbollah on Saturday said it had launched at least eight attacks on Israeli positions.
The IDF acknowledged that “a number of launches” were identified crossing from Lebanon to northern Israel, but said no injuries were reported and that it struck the sources of the fire.
11:57 p.m. ET, February 3, 2024
US strikes make it difficult to reach a political solution in the region, Iran tells UN
From CNN's Artemis Mostaghian, Jennifer Z. Deaton, and Hande Atay Alam
A building is seen destroyed following a US airstrike in al-Qaim, Iraq, on February 3. Stringer/Reuters
Recent strikes by the US military in the Middle East make it difficult to reach a political solution in the region, Iran's foreign minister told the United Nations' special envoy for Yemen on Saturday, according to Iran's state-run news agency.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments prior to US officials confirming the latest strikes Saturday on Houthi targets. The attacks follow multiple joint US-UK airstrikes on the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen last month.
During their meeting in Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian told Special Envoy Hans Grundberg that the US strikes and its decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization have "complicated the situation and made it more difficult to reach a political solution," the state news agency, IRNA, reported.
Amir-Abdollahian also called US strikes "the continuation of Washington’s wrong and failed approach to resolve issues by force and through militarism," IRNA reported.
Remember: The US also conducted major airstrikes on 85 targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria on Friday in response to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers.
The strikes in Yemen are distinct from the attacks in Iraq and Syria: The former is a response to ongoing Houthi attacks on international shipping and US warships in the Red Sea, while the latter is a retaliation for the deadly attack on US troops. But both target Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.
11:57 p.m. ET, February 3, 2024
"We will meet escalation with escalation," Houthi senior official says in response to strikes in Yemen
From CNN's Eyad Kourdi
A US-led coalition conducts airstrikes in Yemen on Saturday. US Central Command
Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a top member of the Houthi Political Council, said the group will continue its military operations until the siege on Gaza is lifted and vowed to respond to the latest US and UK strikes in Yemen.
In the group's first reaction to the latest wave of attacks, he warned: "We will meet escalation with escalation."
"The US-British coalition’s bombing of a number of Yemeni provinces will not change our position, and we affirm that our military operations against Israel will continue until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped and the siege on its residents is lifted, no matter the sacrifices it costs us." "Our war is moral, and if we had not intervened to support the oppressed in Gaza, humanity would not have existed among humans. The American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered, and we will meet escalation with escalation," he said.
