Yemen’s Houthis launched an anti-ship ballistic missile on Friday in retaliation for overnight American and British strikes targeting the Iran-backed rebels, a US general said.

“We know that they have fired at least one missile in retaliation” but it did not hit a vessel, Director of the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims told journalists.

“Their rhetoric has been pretty strong and pretty high. I would expect that they will attempt to some sort of retaliation,” he said of the Houthis.

The assessment of damage from the strikes by the United States and Britain — which targeted nearly 30 locations using more than 150 munitions — is still ongoing, Sims said, noting however that the number of casualties is not expected to be high.

“Every target we struck last night was associated with a capability that has been employed in denying freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” he said.

The Houthis have carried out a growing number of drone and missile strikes on the key international shipping route through the Red Sea since the Gaza war erupted with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.

The rebels — who say they are acting in response to Israel’s military assault on Gaza — have controlled a major part of Yemen since civil war erupted there in 2014, and are part of the Iran-backed so-called “axis of resistance” arrayed against Israel.