U.S. Bombs Houthi Weapons Caches in Yemen

Politics|U.S. Stealth Bombers Attack Houthi Weapons Caches successful Yemen

The U.S. subject struck 5 underground weapons facilities successful areas of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia connected Wednesday, utilizing warplanes that included B-2 stealth bombers successful an onslaught that could besides service arsenic a informing to Tehran.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said President Biden had ordered the strikes to “further degrade the Houthis’ capability” to onslaught ships and disrupt the travel of commerce successful the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Mr. Austin made nary notation of Iran, but the uncommon usage of the B-2, the lone level susceptible of striking Iran’s profoundly buried atomic facilities, against the Houthis was notable astatine a clip of tensions betwixt Israel and Iran that endanger to spill into full-blown war.

“This was a unsocial objection of the United States’ quality to people facilities that our adversaries question to support retired of reach, nary substance however profoundly buried underground, hardened oregon fortified,” Mr. Austin said successful a connection precocious Wednesday night. “The employment of U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers show U.S. planetary onslaught capabilities to instrumentality enactment against these targets erstwhile necessary, anytime, anywhere.”

A connection from U.S. Central Command connected Wednesday nighttime said that U.S. Navy “assets” besides took portion successful the attack, which the unit, based successful Tampa, Fla., said was launched against “various precocious accepted weapons utilized to people U.S. and planetary subject and civilian vessels navigating planetary waters.”

Attacking alleged hardened buried sites mostly requires the usage of specially built bombs that person overmuch thicker alloy cases and incorporate a smaller magnitude of explosives than likewise sized general-purpose bombs. The dense casings of specified “bunker buster” bombs allows the munition to enactment intact arsenic it punches done soil, stone oregon factual earlier detonating.

The B-2 is the lone warplane that tin transportation the largest of this people of limb successful the Pentagon’s inventory: A 30,000-pound GPS-guided munition called the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, oregon MOP, that contains the equivalent of astir 5,600 pounds of TNT. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to accidental whether that limb was utilized successful the onslaught connected Wednesday.