U.S. Conducts Airstrike on Houthis as Truman Strike Group Arrives in Region

U.S. Central Command confirmed tonight, December 17, new attacks on Houthi command and control facilities just hours after reports of Houthi missiles aimed at Israel. Earlier, Central Command also confirmed the arrival of the carrier Harry S. Turman strike force in the region after transiting from the Mediterranean.

“CENTCOM forces conducted a precision airstrike against a key command and control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis within Houthi-controlled territory in Sana’a, Yemen,” they reported in a brief update. No additional details were provided on the strike.

The strike came just three days after the Truman Carrier Strike Group entered the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility for the first time since March 2020. The group is taking up the role after the Eisenhower Strike Group started the mission in late 2023 in response to the Houthi’s attacks. 

The Eisenhower was on duty for approximately nine months along with the guided-missile destroyers USS Laboon and USS Carney which were in the thick of the fight. Returning to the U.S. in July 2024, the U.S. Navy reported the group had launched 155 standard missiles and 135 Tomahawk missiles as well as aircraft in the group expended nearly 60 air-to-air missiles and released 420 air-to-surface weapons. The USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Theodore Roosevelt also did shorter tours in the region.

The Truman carrier strike group is reported to include the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, and two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, USS Stout and USS Jason Dunham.

 

Hary S Truman transeting the Suez Canal on December 15 (USN)

 

Centcom reports the target struck tonight was “a hub for coordinating Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”

The Houthis in recent weeks have mostly focused their attacks on Israel, although the Pentagon did confirm that U.S. destroyers had been targeted twice in December as they were escorting civilian supply ships in the region. The Houthis today briefly claimed an attack on Ben Gurion Airport but later said they had launched a hypersonic missile into Haifa and targeted a military site in Ashkelon.

The Jerusalem Post reports sirens were sounded in Tel Aviv and that flights in and out of Ben Gurion were briefly stopped. The Israeli Defense Force is saying the attacks were intercepted and did not enter Israel but there are reports of possible debris falling on a building in Jerusalem. Last week, however, a Houthi drone did enter Israel hitting a residential building in Yavne, a central town north of Ashdod. There were no reports of injuries. 

The Jerusalem Post says the Houthis have fired six ballistic missiles and five drones at Israel since November.

Centcom said the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is ready, if called upon, to execute the full spectrum of carrier operations including the defense of U.S. and partner forces.