USAF uses B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to strike underground Houthi weapons facilities
A number of Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities have been hit with airstrikes from US B-2 bombers.
Conducted by US Central Command (CENTCOM), the bombers carried out multiple precision airstrikes on the targets in Yemen.
CENTCOM said the use of the B-2 bomber shows the US reaches "these targets, when necessary, anytime, anywhere".
The secretive and rarely used B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber that can deliver conventional and nuclear ammunition.
The aircraft represents a technological "leap forward, capable of delivering massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defences", according to the US Air Force.
The New York Times reported that the use of the B-2 Spirit bombers could serve as a warning to Iran, as it is the only plane capable of striking Iran's deeply buried nuclear facilities.
Despite this, US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin III did not make any mention of Iran but said US president Joe Biden had ordered the strikes.
The facilities reportedly contained multiple advanced conventional weapons used to target the US and international vessels travelling through international waters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Aimed at degrading the Houthis' ability to carry on their attacks, the CENTCOM forces targeted the Houthis' underground facilities.
These apparently house missiles, weapons components and other munitions used to target both military and civilian vessels.
The New York Times report also outlined that, in order to attack these facilities, specially built bombs with thick steel cases and a smaller amount of explosives are needed.
These "bunker buster" bombs, the report explains, allow the ammunition to punch through the layers of soil and/or rock before reaching the underground bunker and then detonating.
The reason this is relevant to the use of the B-2 bomber is because it is the only US warplane that can carry the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
This is the Pentagon's largest "bunker buster", a 30,000lb, GPS-guided munition that contains the rough equivalent of 5,600lbs of TNT.
However, a Pentagon spokesman did not say if it was the MOP used in the attack against the Houthi facilities.
Alongside the US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, US Air Navy assets were also deployed.
CENTCOM also said their "battle damage assessments are underway and do not indicate civilian casualties" – but that is yet to be confirmed.
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