Houthis claim series missile attacks on Israel and American warship

The Iran-backed Houthis said on Thursday they targeted an Israeli army site as well as a US warship, soon after Israel reported intercepting missiles launched from Yemen. The Houthis "targeted Ben Gurion airport... with a ballistic missile... and a military target" south of Tel Aviv, their military spokesman Yahya Saree said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said it intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen "prior to crossing into Israeli territory" after it activated air raid sirens across multiple areas, including Jerusalem.

Saree said the rebels also "targeted hostile warships in the Red Sea, including the American aircraft carrier (USS Harry S) Truman," which he said was "in retaliation to the ongoing US aggression against our country".

The United States launched what its Central Command called a "large scale operation" involving air strikes against the Houthis on March 15.

Washington vowed to use overwhelming force until they stopped firing on vessels in the key shipping routes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the rebels threatened to resume attacks over the Gaza war.

The Houthis have since reported near-daily US air strikes on areas under their control. Earlier on Thursday, the rebels said two people had been killed in overnight air strikes near the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa that they blamed on the United States.

The Houthis' Al Masirah TV channel reported nearly 20 strikes on Sanaa governorate, both north and south of the capital. "The American aggression killed two and injured two," the Houthi-run health ministry's spokesman Anis Al Asbahi said on social media platform X.

Al Masirah also reported strikes early on Thursday in Saada, the Iran-backed rebels' northern stronghold which Houthi media had said was hit 17 times the day before.

While the United States does not always report these raids, a United States defence official told AFP on Sunday that American forces were "conducting strikes across multiple locations of Iran-backed Houthi locations every day and night in Yemen".