US, Houthis bracing for retaliatory strikes over Red Sea attacks — report

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are fortifying positions and moving weapons and personnel from others in anticipation of a US and UK attack in the wake of continuing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The report quotes maritime executives who were told about target lists including radar stations and drone launch sites around key Houthi-controlled cities, though US defense officials are quoted saying that the plan will be to strike back without risking a major escalation.

According to a Houthi source quoted by the Journal, the Iran-backed group has moved its missiles to bunkers in densely populated areas of the capital Sa’ana.

The report notes that an Iranian spy ship thought to have aided in the Houthi attacks left the region to return to the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, in a sign that Tehran also sees Western retaliation looming.