DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The British military launched airstrikes with the United States targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said early Wednesday, their first attack in Washington’s new intense campaign targeting the Iran-backed group.
The United Kingdom offered a detailed explanation for launching the strike, in a departure from the U.S., which has offered few details about what it says are more than 1,000 targets it has hit since beginning its campaign on March 15.
The campaign, called “Operation Rough Rider,” has been targeting the rebels as the Trump administration negotiates with their main benefactor, Iran, over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
UK strike hits near Yemen’s capital
The U.K. Defense Ministry described the site attacked as “a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of Sanaa.”