The Pentagon's deputy press secretary, Sabrina Singh, has said that the United States does not seek war with the Houthis after US forces conducted a fifth strike against the Iran-backed militias in Yemen.
“We don't seek war. We don't think that we are at war,” said Singh on Thursday in response to a question.
The latest strikes destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles that “were aimed into the southern Red Sea and prepared to launch,” US Central Command said in a statement posted to X. They were conducted by Navy F/A-18 fighter aircraft, the Pentagon said.
On Wednesday the US military fired another wave of ship- and submarine-launch missile strikes against 14 Houthi-controlled sites. That same day, the administration put the Houthis back on its list of specially designated global terrorists.
“These strikes will continue for as long as they need to continue,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday, adding, “I’m not going to telegraph punches one way or another.”
Despite sanctions and military strikes, including a large-scale operation carried out Friday by US and British warships and warplanes that hit more than 60 targets across Yemen, the Houthis keep harassing commercial and military ships. The US has strongly warned Iran to cease providing weapons to the Houthis.
“We never said the Houthis would immediately stop,” Singh said at a briefing when asked why the strikes have not seemed to stop the Houthis.
Since the joint US and British operation got underway last Friday, hitting 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets in that initial round, the Houthis' attacks have been “lower scale,” Singh added.
