The Houthi group in Yemen admitted to receiving 10 raids, on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, targeting military sites in Sanaa and its southern suburbs and in Amran Governorate (north), while the US Department of Defense confirmed that during the strikes it destroyed advanced weapons depots of the Iranian-backed group.

The strikes, which the Houthi media described as “American and British,” come in the context of military operations led by Washington since January 12, 2024, in an effort to limit the group’s ability to attack ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The group's media reported that 4 strikes targeted the Jarban area on Sunday morning in the Sanhan district in the southern suburbs of Sana'a, while a fifth raid targeted the "Al-Hafa" camp in the kidnapped capital.

According to Al-Masirah Channel, the Houthi media arm, two raids hit sites in the Sufyan District of Amran Governorate, which is adjacent to the group’s main stronghold in Saada Governorate.

Regarding the evening strikes, the group said that 3 raids targeted the “Al-Hafa” and “Al-Nahdain” areas in the Al-Sabeen District, without providing any details regarding the losses resulting from these strikes.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse quoted a US defense official as saying that the strikes targeted weapons depots that were being used to attack military and civilian ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Last Friday, the Iranian-backed group claimed responsibility for bombing an Israeli base in the Negev region, and claimed to shoot down an American MQ-9 drone, in conjunction with its admission of receiving two Western raids that targeted a site in the southern coastal province of Hodeidah.

800 raids

The group received 800 Western raids, starting on January 12; Washington resorted to using stealth bombers for the first time on October 17 to target the Houthi group's fortified sites in Sana'a and Saada, in a show-off message that was understood to be directed primarily at Iran.

The Yemeni government says that Western strikes against the Houthi group are useless, and that the most effective solution is to support the legitimate forces to restore Hodeidah and its ports, leading to ending the Houthi coup and restoring the kidnapped capital, Sanaa.

Since November 2023, the Houthi group has claimed responsibility for bombing more than 200 ships, and the attacks in the Red Sea led to the sinking of two ships, the piracy of a third, the killing of 3 sailors, and the injury of others in a fourth attack against a Liberian ship.

Yemeni observers accuse the Houthi group of finding in the Israeli war on Gaza an opportunity to escape peace entitlements with the Yemeni government. Late last year, the two parties agreed to a peace map brokered by Saudi Arabia and Oman, before the group engaged in its attacks against ships and announced its bias towards the Iranian axis.

The group, along with the allies of the Iranian axis, is awaiting with great caution what will happen with Trump’s return to the American presidency. Yemeni observers expect his administration to be more strict in dealing with the issue of Iran and the groups loyal to it, most notably the Houthi group.

In his weekly sermon, last Thursday, the leader of the group, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, tried to downplay the importance of Trump’s victory in the US presidency. He also tried to reassure his followers that the group is capable of confrontation and that it will not back down from its attacks, regardless of the magnitude of the risks expected during Trump’s era.