According to CNN, this was a significant reaction after the US government and its allies warned that the Iran-backed militant group would suffer the consequences of repeated drone and missile attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.
US President Joe Biden said he ordered the attack "to directly respond to unprecedented Houthi attacks on international ships in the Red Sea".
Today, under my direction, US military forces along with the UK and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands have launched attacks on a number of targets in Yemen used by the Houthis to endanger freedom of navigation in Yemen, one of the worlds most important waterways, the president said in a statement from the White House.
President Biden stressed that he will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect people and the free flow of international trade when necessary.
The attacks were carried out from fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles. A US official told CNN that more than 10 Houthi targets were hit by missiles fired from the air, ground and sub launchers, in order to reduce the Houthi's continuous attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
The attacks are a growing international warning of the threat to one of the world's most important waterways. For weeks, the US has sought to avoid direct attacks on Yemen as it risks escalating in an area that was already heating up tensions, but ongoing Houthi attacks on international waters have forced the alliance to act.
According to a congressional source, senior government officials informed congress leaders on January 4 about US plans.
According to a senior US official, the Houthi attacks on shipping activities in the Red Sea on January 9 were the last straw, culminating in President Biden turning on the green light for the US to conduct attacks on January 11, although preparations had been underway for some time.
The USS Florida Submarine, which is capable of launching ballistic missiles, also participated in the attack on Yemen, according to a second US official. The Submarine fired missiles at the surface of the Tomahawk.
The attacks come as Defense Minister Lloyd Austin remains hospitalized after complications from prostate cancer surgery.
Although the US has launched strikes against Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria since the war broke out in Gaza, this is the first known attack on the Houthi forces in Yemen.
The attack comes at a time of great tension in the Middle East as the US tries to ensure that the war in Gaza does not spread to a wider area. The Biden administration has been wary of attacks on Houthi forces, fearing that they could disrupt the fragile ceasefire between the militant group and Saudi Arabia that has been achieved after years of war.
But the White House has made it clear that repeated Houthi attacks on international shipping routes south of the Red Sea are unacceptable. The attacks have forced some of the world's largest shipping companies to avoid waterway, instead adding thousands of kilometers to international shipping routes by traveling around the African continent.
Hours before the January 11 attack, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said Iran played a role in demanding that the Houthi forces stop reckless, dangerous and illegal operations. He said that if they do not do so, "there will be consequences".
In a speech on January 11, Houthi leader Abdul Malek Al-Houthi said that any US attack on Yemen would be responded to more strongly than attacks on US ships at sea.
