The Yemeni Houthi group announced, at dawn on Thursday, that the US-British coalition launched an air strike on the coastal province of Hodeidah in western Yemen, while the German Navy announced that it was avoiding the Red Sea due to the "Houthi threat."

Al Masirah TV, the mouthpiece of the Houthi group, said in a news item on its breaking news feed, "An American-British aggression targeted an area near Hodeidah University in Al Hawak District with an airstrike," but it did not mention the name of the area.

According to the channel, "the US-British coalition aircraft targeted Hodeidah International Airport with two raids last night, Wednesday."

Hodeidah is one of the most important Yemeni governorates, as it contains an international airport and 3 vital ports, and has a long coastal strip.

German caution

Germany's defense ministry said two German warships are avoiding the Red Sea and sailing around Africa instead for fear of Houthi attacks on passing shipping.

German Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Mitko Mueller said at a news conference yesterday that Defense Minister Boris Pistorius "ordered a longer route for the frigate and the supply ship on their way back from a mission in the Indian and Pacific Oceans."

"The threat level in the Red Sea is very high," Mueller warned at a press conference in Berlin, citing "very sophisticated attacks" carried out there in recent months with tactical ballistic missiles, drones and other weapons.

"Unlike other German naval vessels, the two ships are not specifically designed to carry out air defence operations to protect themselves as well as nearby fleets," he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during his visit to India last week, inspected the two ships, the frigate Baden-Württemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main, in the southwestern state of Goa.

The frigate will then head to the Mediterranean to join a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, while the supply ship will sail back to Germany, Mueller said.

In solidarity with Gaza, which has been facing Israeli genocide with American support since October 7, 2023, the Houthis are targeting Israeli or Israeli-linked cargo ships in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean with missiles and drones.

Since the beginning of this year, a US-led coalition has been launching raids that it says target Houthi sites in various parts of Yemen, in response to their naval attacks, which have been met with occasional responses from the group.

With the intervention of Washington and London and the escalation of tensions in January, the Houthi group announced that it now considers all American and British ships among its military targets.

Most major shipping companies avoid the Red Sea route towards Egypt's Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, forcing them instead to take a longer and more expensive journey around Africa.