Image provided by the UK Ministry of Defense, a Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4 is prepared for takeoff to bomb Yemen, in Akrotiri, Cyprus, on January 21, 2024. (Via AFP)

Sanaa, February 1 (RHC)-- The United States and Britain have conducted new strikes on Yemen as the Arab country continues its maritime campaign in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid an Israeli genocide.

Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported that the air raids targeted Yemen’s western provinces of Sa’ada and Hudaydah on Wednesday evening and Thursday at dawn, respectively.  Meanwhile, local sources said the American warplanes that bombed Yemen had flown from a US military base in Bahrain.

In a statement, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed that its aerial assaults had hit an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ground control station and 10 one-way drones in Yemen.  It also alleged that the targets “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region.”

The attacks came after the Yemeni Armed Forces struck American merchant ship KOl with several naval missiles as the vessel was heading to ports in the occupied lands.  The operation followed a similar one against American destroyer USS Gravely in the Red Sea.

In solidarity with the Palestinians in besieged Gaza, Yemeni forces have targeted ships going to and from ports in the occupied territories, or whose owners are linked to Israel, in the southern Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden, and even in the Arabian Sea.

In response to the pro-Palestine maritime campaign, the U.S. and its allies have launched airstrikes on Yemen in violation of the country’s sovereignty and international law.  The illegal raids prompted Yemen to declare American and British vessels as legitimate targets for its armed forces.