In another major advancement toward a global conflagration, the United States has struck Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the country of Yemen. Following Thursday’s large-scale airstrikes, the U.S. attacked additional Houthi militant sites, according to U.S. Central Command. An additional strike by the U.S. took place Saturday morning as well.

“At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen,” CENTCOM said in a statement issued after the airstrike. “This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels,” it added.

The target was allegedly a Houthi radar site and is said to have been a direct retaliatory response to an unsuccessful launch at a ship in the Gulf of Aden, according to a report by ABC News. 

Russia immediately condemned the U.S. attack as “disproportionate.” “It is one thing to protect commercial shipping, attacks on which are unacceptable, but it is completely different to disproportionately and illegally bomb another state,” the Russian diplomat said, adding that the coalition’s aggressive actions are contrary to Article 2 of the UN Charter.

The Houthi movement threatened a “strong and effective response” as the tensions ratcheted up further. Washington continues to vow to protect shipping lanes from attacks by the Iran-aligned group.

According to a report by Reuters, even though the Houthi leaders swore the U.S. would face retaliation of some kind, head tyrant Joe Biden warned on Friday that he could also order more strikes if they do not stop their attacks on merchant and military vessels in one of the world’s most economically vital waterways.

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War Expands: Yemen Houthis Strike 3 Commercial Ships In The Red Sea

General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, told reporters earlier Friday that the strikes have degraded the Houthis capability to launch a major attack like the one they tried on Tuesday.