WASHINGTON, Feb 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The United States and Britain struck dozens of targets in Yemen on Saturday in response to repeated attacks on shipping by Iran-backed Huthi rebels that have disrupted global trade and put lives at risk.

   The joint air raids in Yemen come a day after a separate wave of unilateral American strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria that were carried out in response to the killing of three US soldiers in Jordan on January 28.

   It is the third time that British and American forces have jointly targeted the Huthis and the United States has also carried out a series of air raids against them on its own, but the rebels' attacks have persisted.

   The latest strikes hit "36 Huthi targets across 13 locations in Yemen in response to the Huthis' continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea," the United States, Britain and other countries that provided support for the operation said in a statement.

   US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes "are intended to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Huthi militia to conduct their reckless and destabilizing attacks."

   "Coalition forces targeted 13 locations associated with the Huthis' deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars," he said in a statement.

   Neither Austin nor the joint statement identified the specific places that were hit, but the Huthis' Al-Massirah television said Sanaa and other locations were targeted.

   - Meeting 'escalation with escalation' -

   Britain's Defense Ministry said Royal Air Force Typhoon warplanes struck targets including two ground control stations used to operate both attack and reconnaissance drones.

   US forces earlier Saturday separately carried out strikes against six Huthi anti-ship missiles that were "prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea," the Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

   The military command also said Saturday that US forces shot down eight drones in and near Yemen the day before and destroyed four more before they could be launched.

   The Huthis began targeting Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

   US and UK forces responded with strikes against the Huthis, who have since declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.

   Huthi spokesman Nasr al-Din Amer said following the Saturday strikes that "either there is peace for us, Palestine and Gaza, or there is no peace and no safety for you in our region."

   "We will meet the escalation with escalation," he wrote on social media.

   - Strikes in Iraq, Syria -

   Anger over Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza -- which began after an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 -- has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

   Last weekend, a drone slammed into a base in Jordan, killing three US soldiers and wounding more than 40 -- an attack Washington blamed on Iran-backed forces.

   US and allied troops have been attacked more than 165 times in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since mid-October, but the soldiers killed on January 28 were the first to die from hostile fire in the Middle East during that period.

   The United States responded Friday with strikes against dozens of targets at seven Tehran-linked facilities in Iraq and Syria, but did not hit Iranian territory.

   Both the Iraqi and Syrian governments condemned the Friday strikes, while Tehran said they would "have no result other than intensifying tension and instability."

   Diplomatic sources meanwhile said the UN Security Council would convene Monday, after Russia called for a meeting "over the threat to peace and safety created by US strikes on Syria and Iraq."

   But British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said Tehran is ultimately responsible for the violence, telling the Sunday Times in an interview that "we need to send the clearest possible signal to Iran that what they're doing through their proxies is unacceptable."

   "You created them, you backed them, you financed them, you provided them with weapons, and you will ultimately be held accountable for what they do," Cameron said.