Missile attack targets US carrier after deadly strikes in Yemen: Houthis

Yemen's Houthis launched a missile attack on the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea in response to US and British strikes on Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree has said.

Six US and British strikes have killed 16 people and wounded 41, including civilians, Saree said in a televised statement on Friday.

Strikes in the province of Hudaida targeted the port of Salif, a radio building in the Al-Hawk district, Ghalifa camp and two houses, Saree said.

The US and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday to deter the group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.

The US Central Command said US and British forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

Houthi positions

The British Defence Ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hudaida, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons.

"As ever, the utmost care was taken in planning the strikes to minimise any risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure," the ministry said.

"Conducting the strikes in the hours of darkness should also have mitigated yet further any such risks."

Houthi spokesperson Mohamed Abdelsalam said the strikes were a "brutal aggression" against Yemen as punishment for its support of Gaza.

In Tehran, Houthi-allied Iran condemned the strikes as "violations of Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity..., international laws and human rights", Iranian state media reported.

"The aggressor US and British governments are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people," Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.

The Houthis, who control Yemen's capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel's war on Gaza, drawing US and British strikes since February.