Yemen's Houthis vow US-UK joint airstrikes will 'not go unanswered or unpunished'

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are warning Friday that a series of joint airstrikes carried out against them by the U.S. and British militaries will "not go unanswered or unpunished." 

Houthis’ military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree issued the threat in a recording while the rebel group’s deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi added that "America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression," according to The Associated Press. 

Saree added that strikes on regions of Yemen under their control killed five and wounded six from the Houthis’ military forces.  

The United Kingdom said strikes hit a site in Bani allegedly used by the Houthis to launch drones and an airfield in Abbs used to launch cruise missiles and drones, the AP reports. 

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An aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition operation against military targets in Yemen from an undisclosed location on Jan. 12. (US Central Command via X/Reuters)

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Friday it imposed sanctions on two firms in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for allegedly shipping Iranian commodities on behalf of Iran-based Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. Four vessels owned by the firms were also identified as blocked property. 

President Biden said he had authorized the strikes "in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea -- including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history."   

Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, the head of U.S Air Force Central Command, said there were "deliberate strikes on over 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems."  

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An aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition to conduct air strikes against military targets in Yemen, from an undisclosed location. (US Central Command via X/Reuters)

In a statement, Grynkewich said, "Over 100 precision-guided munitions of various types were used in the strikes.   

"These strikes were comprised of coalition air and maritime strike and support assets from across the region, including U.S. Naval Forces Central Command aircraft and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from surface and sub-surface platforms," he also said.  

The attacks were carried out with support from Australia, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Canada. A U.S. defense official says the U.K. contributed aircraft. 

An aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition to conduct air strikes against military targets in Yemen, aimed at the Iran-backed Houthi militia that has been targeting international shipping in the Red Sea, from an undisclosed location, in this screengrab from a video released on Jan. 12. (US Central Command via X/Reuters)

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Biden said the strikes "are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes." 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.