The United States has launched strikes on over a dozen Houthi strongholds in Yemen. Ships and fighter jets of the U.S. Central Command have struck the capital Sanaa and the port of Hodeida, in addition to others.

The U.S. has been involved in attempting to stop the Houthi rebels from blockading the Red Sea as part of a war effort against Israel. This has been the first operation against the Houthis since June and is going to be seen as an escalation and war provocation.

The Houthis are a Shia group styling themselves as the Yemeni government and who control the northwest of the country. They have been attempting to disrupt Israeli and Western shipping in the Red Sea for almost a year, to pressure Israel to stop attacking Gaza.

Now that the United States is involved, this could escalate quickly into a world war.

According to the US military, as reported by RT, the strikes targeted 15 Houthi targets on Friday afternoon, going after “offensive military capabilities” in order to “protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels.”

Prior to the official statement from CENTCOM, unnamed US officials told AP that the strikes had taken place against “weapons systems, bases and other equipment” at five locations.

According to Yemeni media, there were seven strikes at the Hodeidah airport and the military base at Katheib. Two explosions were reported in Dhamar province, and three in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa. Four more strikes targeted the capital itself. -RT

The Yemeni group has fired missiles or drones at more than 80 merchant ships since last October when Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza.  Initially, the Houthis targeted just vessels “linked to” Israel but expanded their interdictions to US and UK vessels after the Anglo-American airstrikes in January.

Washington sent several warships into the region as part of “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” an effort to keep the Bab el-Mandeb Strait open. The U.S. Navy has not been able to deter the Houthis, causing most Western shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal and route their vessels around Africa instead. While the Houthis continue to attack U.S. ships, they are not having a lot of success. CENTCOM maintains that all of the incoming missiles and drones have been successfully intercepted.

This action is also not likely to stop the attack on the Red Sea.