US strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen ‘legitimate’: UAE

By Ahmed al-Masri

ABU DHABI (AA) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday described a U.S. missile strike on a coastal area of Yemen held by the Shia Houthi militia as "legitimate and justified".

Earlier the same day, the U.S. military struck three Houthi radar platforms deployed near Yemen’s Red Sea coast, according to the Pentagon.

The missile strikes came after U.S. naval vessels patrolling the Red Sea off Yemen’s coast came under fire -- twice within the last week -- from Houthi-held areas of Yemen.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, Thursday’s strikes "targeted radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening the USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb".

The Pentagon had hinted earlier this week that the U.S. military would retaliate against any attack on its naval forces deployed in the region.

According to the Pentagon spokesman, initial assessments suggested that the Houthi radar sites had been destroyed.

In a statement carried by the UAE’s official news agency, the UAE Foreign Ministry described the recent attacks on U.S. naval vessels -- allegedly committed by Houthi militiamen -- as "a recurring escalation".

Thursday’s retaliatory strikes by the U.S. constituted a "legitimate response to repeated and unprovoked attacks by rebel forces," the ministry added, in reference to the Houthis.

Yemen has been racked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In March of last year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.