WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday that U.S. military strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen will continue, but he acknowledged that the American and British bombardment has yet to stop the militants’ attacks on vessels in the Red Sea that have bedeviled global shipping.
A U.S. official said the United States conducted a fifth strike Thursday morning that targeted another missile launcher site. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public.
Biden said the U.S. would continue the strikes in an exchange with reporters before departing the White House for a domestic policy speech in North Carolina.
“When you say working, are they stopping the Houthis, no. Are they going to continue, yes,” Biden said.
The U.S. military fired another wave of ship- and submarine-launch missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites on Wednesday, marking the fourth time in days it has directly targeted the group in Yemen as violence that ignited in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war continues to spill over in the Middle East.
The strikes were launched from the Red Sea and hit 14 missiles that the command deemed an “imminent threat.”
The strikes followed an announcement Wednesday that the U.S. has put the Houthis back on its list of specially designated global terrorists. The sanctions that come with the formal designation are meant to sever violent extremist groups…
