Early Thursday, a U.S. warship fired three cruise missiles at radar installations in Yemen that the Pentagon says were used by Houthi rebels to target the USS Mason, stationed off Yemen's coast, over the past four days. On Sunday and Wednesday, missiles from Houthi-controlled areas of war-torn Yemen were fired at the Mason, but fell into the sea. Still, American military commanders say these attacks pose a real threat to ships in the Bab el Mandeb Strait, on the southern end of the Red Sea. President Obama approved the retaliatory strikes, America's first direct salvo at the Houthi rebels.
"These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," the Pentagon said. "The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic." The U.S. is supporting a coalition led by Saudi Arabia that has been attacking the Houthis since March 2015, siding with Yemen's president against an Iran-backed faction led by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. More than 4,000 civilians have been killed in the Saudi-led bombing, according the Untied Nations, including 140 people killed in an airstrike on a funeral in Sanaa last weekend.
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