The US and Britain launched strikes on more than a dozen Houthi-linked targets in Yemen Thursday — just days after the Iran-backed rebels carried out their “largest attack” to date on shipping vessels in the Red Sea, President Biden announced. 

The retaliatory strikes mark the first time attacks have targeted Houthi militants since they began launching their attacks in the Red Sea last year and the first strikes the US has deployed against the Houthis in Yemen since 2016.

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. 

“These attacks have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation.”

Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands offered their support to the US-British strikes, Biden added. 

One US official speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters the strikes were being enforced through aircraft, ships and submarines and were intended to be more than “just symbolic.”

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US-British offensive is “intended to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ capabilities to endanger mariners and threaten global trade in one of the world’s most critical waterways.”

“Today’s coalition action sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will bear further costs if they do not end their illegal attacks,” Austin said, noting that the ongoing Houthi attacks have been backed by Iran. 

The capital of Yemen, Sanaa, along with the cities Saada and Dhamar and the Hodeidah governorate were subjected to “raids” a Houthi official confirmed in what he called an act of “American-Zionist-British aggression.”

Witnesses told Reuters that the raids targeted a military base near the Sanaa airport, a military site near Taiz airport, a Houthi naval base in Hodeidah and military sites in Hajjah Governorate. 

Tensions in the Red Sea have increased by the week since the Islamist extremist group began attacking and hijacking cargo ships passing through the vital Red Sea, a critical shipping corridor, following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The Houthis claim their attacks are a show of support for Hamas and have targeted 27 ships to date. 

The Houthis claim their attacks are a show of support for Hamas and have targeted 27 ships to date but their targets more often than not have little to no connection to Israel and instead endanger a crucial route where about 12% of the world’s trade passes through. 

Their activities have grounded commerce in the region to a halt and led some of the world’s largest shipping companies to cease operations in the Red Sea.

Despite repeated warnings from the US and allies that the Houthis would face “consequences” if they did not cease their attacks, the Houthis have repeatedly defied Western threats and continued their assaults.

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation,” Biden said Thursday.

The Houthis, who control the majority of Yemen, launched their largest and most complex attack yet on Tuesday, firing 18 drones and three missiles from sites in Yemen.

US and UK forces safely shot down the weapons, leading US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to promise more “consequences,” but failing to elaborate on when or what they may include.

Behind the scenes, Biden was convening his national security officials and “was presented with military options for a collective response,” a senior administration official said in a call with reporters Thursday. 

The president then directed the Pentagon to launch the strikes resulting in the US-British bombing. The two countries hope the retaliatory attack weakens Houthi combat forces. 

“This was a significant action and conducted with every objective and every expectation that it will degrade, in a significant way, the Houthi’s capability to launch the sorts of attacks that they have conducted over a period of recent weeks,” a senior administration official said.

The targets were also “very specifically selected for minimizing the risks of collateral damage,” a military official added. 

The Houthis had been preparing for the possibility of a US strike, the Wall Street Journal reported, stockpiling their weapons in secure locations in populated areas — a tactic used by the similarly Iran-funded Hamas to deter attacks.

Houthi leaders promised to hit back with more force than ever before if the US-led coalition attacks them.

“Retaliation to any American strike will not only be at the level of the current operation, which included more than 24 drones and multiple missiles, but will be larger,” said Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

Another high-ranking Hothi official, Ali al-Qahoum, vowed that “the battle will be bigger… and beyond the imagination and expectation of the Amercians and the British” on X.

A US military official said there has not been “any direct retaliatory action” toward the US or other coalition members since the joint country strikes. 

But “we would not be surprised to see some sort of response,” a senior administration official told reporters. 

With Post wires.