The U.S. and Britain carry out strikes on 18 Houthi targets in Yemen

This image provided by the U.S. Navy shows an aircraft launching from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea last month. The U.S. and Britain struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, military officials said. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kaitlin Watt/AP)

U.S. and British forces carried out more than a dozen strikes against several Houthi sites in Yemen on Saturday, officials said, the latest response to the Iran-backed rebel group's recent attacks on commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea and The Gulf of Aden.

A joint statement from the U.S., U.K. and other allied countries said the strikes were against 18 Houthi targets across eight locations in Yemen, which included underground weapons and missile storage facilities, air defense systems, radars and a helicopter.