U.S. long-range B-2 stealth bombers launched airstrikes targeting underground bunkers used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The U.S. military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels early Thursday, a major escalation in the American response to the rebels’ attacks on Mideast shipping lanes that appeared to be a warning to Iran as well.

While it wasn’t immediately clear how much damage the strikes caused, the attack appeared to be the first use of the B-2 in combat in years and the first time the flying wing targeted sites in Yemen.

In announcing the strikes against the Houthis, who have been attacking ships for months in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas warin the Gaza Strip, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a point to offer a warning likely heard in Tehran as well.

  • cubism_pitta@lemmy.worldEnglish
    141·
    26 days ago

    These flew from US mainland into Yemen and bombed protected / hidden sites THEN flew back home.

    The US gave warning of the attack and likely all the governments in the area saw were birds on their radar screens.

    The B-2 was a great choice to deliver a quit messing with commerce message

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      71·
      26 days ago

      These flew from US mainland into Yemen and bombed protected / hidden sites THEN flew back home.

      That’s how the B-2s normally operate. I forget the name of the airbase (I think it starts with a “B”?) but it’s somewhere in the center of the US, and they do their missions straight out of the continental US.

      kagis

      No, not a “B”. Whiteman Air Force Base.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      26 days ago

      quit messing with commerce message

      Politics aside, that’s the message. Don’t care who you are, what you believe, what you’re fighting for, you cannot fuck with international commerce. That kinda BS hurts all of us, millions of us. That’s the idea behind treating pirates so harshly. Do not fuck with trade because every human society depends on it.

      • WanderingVentra@lemm.eeEnglish
        14·
        26 days ago

        Nah fuck that, they’re only affecting ships dealing with or owned by Israel. I know that’s the message the US is trying to give, but I hope the Houthi’s keep up the good work despite the force of the US against them. Very David vs Goliath where David is trying to stop a genocide and Goliath is an arms dealer for Nazis.

    • Not a replicant@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      26 days ago

      I posted this upthread, but: rumour has it that they staged from Tindal in Australia. Chances are they returned to Tindal before heading home.