U.S. strikes at Houthi rebels for fifth time

WASHINGTON — U.S. forces on Thursday conducted a fifth strike against Iranian-backed Houthi rebel military sites in Yemen as President Joe Biden acknowledged that the American and British bombardment had yet to stop the terrorists’ attacks on vessels in the Red Sea that have disrupted global shipping.

The latest strikes destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles that “were aimed into the southern Red Sea and prepared to launch,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. They were conducted by Navy F/A-18 fighter aircraft, the Pentagon said.

Biden said the U.S. would continue the strikes, even though so far they have not stopped the Houthis from continuing to harass commercial and military vessels.

“When you say working, are they stopping the Houthis, no. Are they going to continue, yes,” Biden said in an exchange with reporters before departing the White House for a domestic policy speech in North Carolina.

Hours after Biden spoke, Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a prerecorded statement that its forces had carried out another missile attack against the Marshall Islands-flagged, U.s.-owned cargo ship Chem Ranger. Saree said the attack took place in the Gulf of Aden, the waters just south of Yemen.

Earlier Thursday evening, the British military warned of a new attack on shipping some 100 miles off the coast of Yemen, also in the Gulf of Aden.

On Wednesday, the U.S. military fired another wave of ship- and submarine-launch missile strikes against 14 Houthi-controlled sites.

“These strikes will continue for as long as they need to continue,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday, adding, “I’m not going to telegraph punches one way or another.”