![F/A-18 fighters hit Houthi targets](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a6541a98cecedae4570f433f28aeef42baec0c20/0_0_4316_2590/master/4316.jpg?width=1140&dpr=2&s=none)
Ships and fighter jets on Saturday launched strikes against the Houthis. It followed an air assault in Iraq and Syria on Friday targeting other Iran-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops – William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett – in Jordan last weekend.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the military action “sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.”