U.S. long-range B-2 stealth bombers bombed bunkers used by the Houthis in Yemen early Thursday, officials said. It was not immediately clear what damage the attacks caused.
There are no previous reports that the United States has used B-2 Spirit against the Houthis, who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea corridor for months due to the war waged by Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthi satellite news channel, al-Masirah, reported airstrikes around Yemen’s capital Sanaa, which the group has held since 2014. It also reported attacks around Saada, a rebel stronghold, but did not provide information. about damages or victims.
Five objectives
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the B-2 bombers were targeting “five reinforced underground weapons storage sites in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.”
The attack also appeared to be an indirect warning to Iran – the Houthis’ main benefactor – which has launched ballistic missiles at Israel twice in the last year.
The B-2s would be used in any US attack against hardened Iranian nuclear facilities such as Natanz or Fordo since it is the only aircraft in service that can drop the GBU-57, known as the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator.”
“This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to attack facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried or fortified,” Austin said.
Neither Austin nor U.S. Central Command offered an immediate assessment of the damage, but the command said in a statement that initial assessments suggested there were no civilian casualties.
The US military rarely uses the B-2 – which has nuclear capability and first saw action in the Kosovo war in 1999 – in combat, as the cost of each plane is around $1 billion.
They have also been used to drop bombs in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. They are based at Whiteman, Missouri, and typically conduct long-range strikes from there, although there were some B-2s in Australia in September.
a battlefield
The Red Sea has become a battleground for merchants since the Houthis began their campaign against vessels sailing through the area, which once carried cargo worth a billion dollars annually.
The rebels have attacked more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. They have seized one ship and sunk two, in addition to killing four sailors.
Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or have missed their targets, which included Western military vessels.
The rebels maintain that they are attacking vessels linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom to force an end to the Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza. But many of the ships hit have little or no connection to the conflict, and some were even headed to Iran.
The Houthis also continue to fire missiles at Israel and have shot down several US military MQ-9 Reaper drones. Additionally, they have threatened new attacks in response to the Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon and the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The description and locations mentioned by the Houthis this Thursday correspond to known underground bases operated by the rebels, immersed in a stagnant war against a coalition led by Saudi Arabia since 2015 that has decimated the poorest nation in the Arab world.
The Houthis have rehabilitated tunnels that once housed the country’s Scud missiles during Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33 years in power, according to an April analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Among those places are the al-Hafa and Jabal Attan military bases, the former presidential residence and the state television complex in Sana’a, wrote analyst Fabian Hinz. The Houthis have also built what appears to be their own large-scale tunnel network near Saada, he added.
Iran also has a network of underground missile bases.
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