The US launched another wave of missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen as violence in the region continues to spark fears that the Israel-Hamas war will consume the Middle East. 

The strikes were fired on Thursday from vessels and submarines stationed in the Red Sea and hit several anti-ship missiles aiming at international shipping lanes, CNN reports. 

It marks the fifth US strike this week after more than a dozen missiles that were deemed an “imminent threat” were shot down Wednesday, US officials said. 

“Forces conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen,” Central Command said in a statement posted on X late Wednesday. 

“These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting US forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves,” it added. 

The strike occurred within hours of President Biden re-listing the Iran-backed militants as a terrorist group. 

The Biden administration delisted the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2021, a reversal of the Trump administration. 

The formal designation comes with sanctions that aim to dismantle the financing of extremist groups, but the Houthis have scoffed at the label. 

The terror group has stated that its attacks against Israeli-linked ships will not stop, with the Houthis launching a drone attack on Wednesday that struck the Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned and -operated M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden.

It came after a similar attack on Monday when the Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile strike that hit the Eagle Gibraltar, a Marshall Islands-flagged carrier owned by the Connecticut-based firm Eagle Bulk in the Gulf of Aden. 

Houthi leaders said the attack on the shipping vessel and a US destroyer the day before was in retaliation for the US-led airstrikes in Yemen the previous week. 

US and UK warships were deployed on Friday to carry out airstrikes that hit more than 60 targets across Yemen. 

US officials had warned the terror group of “consequences” for its hostilities in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which has impacted global supply routes. 

“They are exploiting this situation to conduct attacks against the ships and vessels from more than 50 countries … around the world,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Wednesday. 

“And so we’re going to continue to work with our partners in the region to prevent those attacks or deter those attacks in the future,” he added.   

Us officials have also strongly warned Iran to stop providing weapons to the Houthi terrorists, with an American raid in the region intercepting the delivery of ballistic missile parts to Yemen. 

American officials alleged that the missile parts were shipped from Iran. Officials noted that Two Navy SEALs are missing after waves knocked them overboard during the seizure of the missile components. 

The Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN Wednesday that his nation is nearing “a real substantive peace agreement,” with Yemeni and Saudi leaders regarding the Houthis’ interference in global trade, as Iran depends on the impacted routes for its oil exports.

The Houthis continue to launch their attacks as a show of solidarity for their Hamas allies in the war in Gaza. 

Amir-Abdollahian suggested Wednesday that the violence in the region will only come to an end when the war in Gaza ends.