The US military claimed on Wednesday morning that its forces destroyed two anti-ship missiles in Yemen that were aimed at the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement its forces identified the missiles in areas in Yemen and determined that they "presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region."

U.S. CENTCOM Destroys Two Houthi Terrorists' Anti-Ship Missiles

On Jan. 24 at approximately 2:30 a.m.(Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces conducted strikes against two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch. U.S.… pic.twitter.com/l3CMPrDx92

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 24, 2024

Earlier, a Yemeni military official told Al Mayadeen that the US-UK-led coalition failed to monitor and locate the launch sites of the Yemeni Armed Forces' (YAF) anti-ship missiles launch site.

Coalition satellites and American spyplanes failed to locate the launch sites of missiles that targeted a US-owned Ocean Jazz cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden. It is worth noting that the ship transports US military equipment.

The source also revealed that every strike conducted in Yemen in the past few hours "targeted sites which previously targeted tens of times."

Explaining that the targeted locations are "insignificant", the military source said the sites house no weapons or military equipment, adding that there were no forces positioned there at the time of the aggression.

In detail, Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Sanaa said four airstrikes targeted al-Dailami Air Base north of the Yemeni capital, four airstrikes targeted al-Hafa military camp, and two airstrikes targeted the Khashm al-Bakrah military camp.

Our correspondent confirmed that the locations attacked by the US-UK-led coalition had previously been subjected to repeated airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition during previous years of the war on Yemen.

He pointed out that between March 2015 and March 2020, al-Dailami Air Base had endured more than 200 airstrikes, which completely destroyed its facilities. 

YAF promises response

Concurrently, the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, revealed that US-UK fighter jets launched 18 airstrikes on Yemen, 12 of which struck the capital Sanaa, three struck al-Hodeidah Governate, two struck the Taiz Governate, and one struck al-Bayda Governate.

Although the YAF launched several operations targeting US and UK assets in the Red Sea, the Armed Forces reiterated in every statement that a response to the violations is yet to come. Saree ended the statement posted on X by emphasizing that the "violations will not pass without a response and punishment."

On his part, the Secretary of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen, Yasser al-Houri, told Al Mayadeen that the YAF are expanding the scope of targeted assets every day. He added that the YAF will determine the appropriate response to the "American and British partners at the appropriate time."

Another member of the Supreme Political Council, Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, told Al Mayadeen that officials in Sanaa were aware that their operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea in support of Palestine would target a dual-faced enemy, represented by "Israel" or the United States.

CENTCOM announces joint operations

On Monday night, the US CENTCOM announced that its Armed Forces and the British Armed Forces, supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted strikes on YAF sites in Yemen.

CENTCOM claimed that the strikes targeted areas used by the YAF to launch attacks on merchant vessels and the US Navy in the region.

The statement stressed that the attack was not conducted under the troubled Operation Prosperity Guardian, which has failed to garner the necessary support for attacks against Yemen.

The YAF, on the other hand, have been launching attacks against Israeli-owned vessels and vessels headed to Israeli-occupied ports in occupied Palestine. Importantly, following continued US-led aggression on Yemen, the YAF expanded the scope of their operations to target US and UK-owned ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Read more: Yemeni officials vow continued attacks against "Israel"