Iran has again denied accusations of supporting Yemen's Houthis after the United States carried out a series of airstrikes against them, and President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would bear “full responsibility” for its actions.
The Houthi health ministry said the attacks killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded more than 100. The rebels said one of the strikes hit two houses in the northern province of Saada.
The Houthis' political bureau said they would respond to US strikes and “respond to escalation with escalation.”
Rebels said Sunday they had attacked the USS Harry S Truman carrier strike group with missiles and drones, but two U.S. officials told The Associated Press they were not tracking anything. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
The Houthis have repeatedly attacked international shipping in the Red Sea and fired missiles and drones at Israel, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is waging war on Hamas, another Iranian ally.
The attacks stopped when a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was reached in Gaza in January, but the Houthis have threatened to resume them after Israel stopped humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.
There have been no reports of Houthi attacks since then.
The United States and other countries have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis, and the U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weapons it says were intended for the group, which controls Yemen's capital Sanaa and the north of the country.
General Hossein Salami, the head of Iran's paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, denied his country's involvement in the Houthi attacks, saying Iran “plays no role in determining the national or operational policies” of the groups it partners with across the region, according to state television.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
