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the pentagon — The United States, Britain and a handful of other allies answered dozens of Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with a series of powerful airstrikes designed to severely degrade the Iranian-backed group’s capabilities.

U.S. Central Command late Thursday said the series of strikes hit more than 60 targets at 16 locations in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, and production facilities.

“We hit them pretty hard, pretty good,” a U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation, told VOA, adding the strikes also targeted Houthi radar installations and air defense systems which did not fire back.

The U.S. and British strikes, carried out with the help of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Bahrain, were launched from fighter jets, surface vessels and submarines, the defense official said.

The U.S. alone, dropped more than 100 precision guided munitions on the Houthi installations, officials said, with the naval vessels and submarines firing Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles to take out the intended targets.

The official also said the targets were chosen both because of their threat to shipping and the lack of a civilian presence.

In a statement from the White House late Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden called the strikes a “direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks” on international shipping, saying they were necessary after attempts at diplomacy were ignored.

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes,” Biden said. “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak likewise condemned the Houthi attacks as destabilizing, confirming the participation of British fighter jets in Thursday’s strikes.

“Their reckless actions are risking lives at sea and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” Sunak said in a statement. “This cannot stand.”

It is the first time Houthi targets inside Yemen have been struck since the militants began attacking ships in the Red Sea following Hamas’ assault on Israel on October 7.

U.S. officials late Thursday were still studying the impact of the strikes against the Houthis, but an initial assessment suggested the damage to Houthi capabilities is “significant.”

“We were going after very specific capability in very specific locations with precision munitions,” said a senior U.S. military official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the operation.

“This was a significant action,” added a senior U.S. administration official. “[We have] every expectation that it will degrade in a significant way, the Houthis, a capability to launch exactly the sorts of attacks that they have conducted over the period of recent weeks.”

There have been 27 attacks launched from Houthi-held areas of Yemen since mid-November, impacting citizens, cargo and vessels from more than 50 countries, according to the U.S.

U.S. officials said in one instance last month, U.S. defensive action prevented a Houthi attack from hitting and likely sinking a commercial ship full of jet fuel.

The most recent Houthi attack, involving the launch of an anti-ship ballistic missile, took place earlier Thursday. The missile landed in the Gulf of Aden near a commercial vessel, causing no injuries or damage.

On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, said the Houthis launched a complex attack using 18 one-way attack drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward Red Sea shipping lanes where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting.

U.S. combat jets, along with U.S. and British military vessels, responded by shooting down the drones and missiles, averting any damage to ships or injuries to their crews in the area.

The senior U.S. administration official said it was Tuesday’s massive attack by the Houthis that prompted Biden to order Thursday strikes.

Before the U.S. and British-led strikes late Thursday, multiple U.S. officials warned both the Houthis and Iran against what they described as reckless and illegal behavior.

“There will be consequences,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said Thursday in response to a question from VOA.

“The Houthis are funded, trained, equipped by Iran to a large degree. And, so, we know that Iran has a role to play in terms of helping to cease this reckless, dangerous and illegal activity,” he said.

Last week, the United States and 12 allies issued a statement warning the Houthis of unspecified consequences if their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea continued.

“Let our message now be clear: We call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” the statement said.

Signatories on the statement included Britain, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan.

The statement followed the launch in mid-December of Operation Prosperity Guardian by the United States, Britain and nearly 20 other countries to protect ships from Houthi attacks.

Since the launch of Prosperity Guardian, at least 1,500 vessels have passed safely through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

The commander of U.S. Navy operations in the Middle East last week called it “the largest surface and air presence in the southern Red Sea in years.”

The U.N. Security Council issued its own resolution Wednesday, calling on the Houthis to stop the attacks immediately.

There are questions, however, as to whether the statements, backed now by the U.S. and British strikes against the Houthis, will do anything to deter Tehran.

“Iran has the luxury of really fighting a, what I would call, a hidden-hand operation with very few Iranians on the ground,” the former commander of U.S. Central Command, retired General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, told a webinar on Wednesday.

“They’re choking world shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb [Strait] at a very low, very low price for Iran,” he said.

But McKenzie argued that even if Iran continues to encourage the Houthis, the risk of a wider regional escalation is slim.

“I do not believe the escalation ladder leads out of Yemen. I believe it stays in Yemen,” he said. “And I believe Iran will leave their partners down there, their proxies down there, to their fate.”

U.S. officials said while they were bracing for the Houthis to try to mount some sort of response to the strikes, a slew of initial claims of attacks late Thursday appeared to be nothing more than disinformation.

This is not the first time the U.S. military has targeted Houthi launch sites in Yemen in response to militant attacks against vessels in nearby waters. In October 2016, the American destroyer USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at three radar sites along Yemen’s Red Sea coast in order to degrade the Houthi’s ability to track and target ships.

Ostap Yarysh with VOA’s Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.

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ATLANTA — Bomb threats and false reports of shootings at the homes of public officials, state capitols and courthouses have surged in recent weeks, including some connected to court cases against former President Donald Trump.

The judges overseeing the civil fraud case against Trump in New York and the criminal election subversion case against him in Washington, D.C., have both been targeted in recent days. Also, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith was the subject of a fake emergency call Christmas Day.

A series of public officials from across the political spectrum were targeted by swatting over the holidays, and capitol buildings and courthouses in states across the U.S. were locked down and evacuated last week after receiving bomb threats. No explosives were found, and no one was hurt.

The FBI said Thursday that investigators have seen a widespread increase in threats of violence and take them seriously. “When the threats are made as a hoax, it puts innocent people at risk, is a waste of law enforcement’s limited resources and costs taxpayers,” the agency said in a statement. 

Here’s a look at the spike in threats: 

What is ‘swatting’?

Swatting is the act of making a prank call to emergency services to prompt a response at a particular address. The goal is to get authorities, particularly a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team, to show up.

Some of the recent calls have featured the voice of a man calling himself “Jamal,” claiming he had shot his wife because she was sleeping with another man and saying he was holding the boyfriend hostage, demanding $10,000.

Who in the courts has been targeted?

In New York, authorities responded to a bomb threat at the Long Island home of Judge Arthur Engoron early Thursday morning, the day after the judge issued a ruling preventing the former president from delivering his own closing statements in the civil fraud case against him. Nothing amiss was found. 

The false report came days after a fake emergency call reporting a shooting at the home of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s Capitol attack criminal case in Washington, D.C. 

Smith was also the target of fake shooting report at his home, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. Smith and his family have been the subject of numerous threats and intimidating messages since he was appointed and Trump began posting messages about them online, prosecutors have said in court documents. 

What other public officials have been targeted?

Public officials targeted by swatting range from Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who removed Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause. 

Other high-profile targets in recent days include U.S. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. 

In Greene’s case, a man called the Georgia suicide hotline Christmas morning, claiming that he had shot his girlfriend at Greene’s home and was going to kill himself next, police said. The call was quickly transferred to police, who determined it was a swatting attempt after contacting a private security detail for Greene, who has been targeted multiple times. 

In Wu’s case, a male caller on the same day claimed he had shot his wife and had tied her and another man up at the Boston mayor’s address. Wu, a Democrat, has also been targeted by many swatting calls since she took office in 2021. 

How widespread is the problem?

Hundreds of cases of swatting occur annually, with some using caller ID spoofing to disguise their number. And those targeted extend far beyond public officials. 

Police have for months reported a huge surge in fake claims about active shooters at schools and colleges. There have also been reports of hundreds of swatting incidents and bomb threats against synagogues and other Jewish institutions since the Israel-Hamas war began. 

The FBI said earlier this year that it had begun to create a database to track swatting incidents nationwide.

Do false threats pose other risks?

Such calls have proven dangerous, even deadly. 

In 2017, a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, shot and killed a man while responding to a hoax emergency call. Earlier this year, the city agreed to pay $5 million to settle a related lawsuit, with the money to go to the two children of Andrew Finch, 28. 

In 2015, police in Maryland shot a 20-year-old man in the face with rubber bullets after a fake hostage situation was reported at his home. 

In addition to putting innocent people at risk, police and officials say they worry about diverting resources from real emergencies. 

What kind of response could this prompt?

No arrests have been made in the recent threats, but some lawmakers have moved for heftier penalties. 

Ohio earlier this year made it a felony offense to report a false emergency that prompts response by law enforcement. And Virginia increased the penalties for swatting to up to 12 months in jail. Similar bills are pending in other states and Congress. 

In Georgia, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones promised “an end to this madness” after his home in a small town south of Atlanta was swatted on Wednesday, only to have a bomb threat called in to his office on Thursday. 

“Let me be clear — I will not be intimidated by those attempting to silence me,” Jones wrote on social media platform X.

MOSCOW — Russia said it had requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to discuss military strikes on Yemen by the United States and Britain.

“Russia has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council on January 12 in connection with the U.S. and UK strikes on Yemen,” Russia’s permanent mission to the United Nations said.

The United States and Britain launched strikes from the air and sea against Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to the movement’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea, a dramatic regional widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

A spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthis said there was no justification for the U.S.-British attack and said the Iran-backed group will continue targeting ships heading towards Israel. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

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ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI — A massive winter storm swept the northern United States on Friday, with blinding snow in some places, freezing rain in others, and whipping winds and bitter cold temperatures across several states.

At least one death was suspected from the latest round of dangerous weather — a man was believed dead after an avalanche in the Idaho backcountry. Heavy snow and strong winds made driving virtually impossible in parts of Iowa, so much so that Republican presidential candidates called off campaign events. “Black ice” from freezing rain brought Kansas City, Missouri, to a standstill.

In Idaho, two men were rescued after being caught in the avalanche Thursday afternoon near the Montana border, but a third man was missing and presumed dead. The U.S. Air Force assisted in the search and rescue. Authorities weren’t sure what the men were doing in the area that had been under an avalanche danger warning for several days.

The Idaho avalanche came a day after the first U.S. avalanche death of the season was reported in California on Wednesday.

Republican candidates campaigning ahead of Monday’s Iowa caucuses were contending with a blizzard warning covering most of the state. Nikki Haley’s campaign canceled three Friday events and said it would be hosting “telephone town halls.” Ron DeSantis’ campaign postponed events in Marshalltown and Clear Lake.

The Iowa Department of Transportation’s road conditions map on Friday showed that virtually every major highway and interstate was partially or completely covered. The agency said driver visibility was “near zero” in some places, and wind-fueled drifts were quickly erasing the work of plow drivers.

The Iowa State Patrol posted photos of an icy wreck. “Please, don’t put yourself or others in danger,” the agency wrote. “The road conditions are extremely dangerous!”

Blizzard warnings were issued in some places, including southwestern Minnesota and the Green Bay area of Wisconsin. Forecasts for the Milwaukee area predicted heavy snow stretching into Saturday morning with wind gusts up to 64 kph (40 mph).

Snow not the only problem

In Kansas City, “black ice” caused dozens of wrecks as freezing rain created an icy sheen over the roads. Temperatures in the mid-teens combined with wind of more than 32 kph (20 mph) created a bitterly cold wind chill of around minus 23 degrees Celsius (minus 9 Fahrenheit).

The cold was the biggest concern in the Dakotas. It was minus 24 degrees C (minus 11 F) in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Friday morning, and forecasters warned the weekend will get even worse. It could reach minus 29 degrees C (minus 20 F) by early Sunday.

Temperatures were below zero Fahrenheit across the entire state of Montana Friday morning with wind chills as low as minus 49 C (minus 56 F) in places along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains and in the central part of the state.

Flight cancellations were common. In Chicago, more than 1,000 flights were canceled at the city’s two main airports Friday. Parts of Illinois could see up to 30.5 centimeters (12 inches) of snow through Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

Near-record cold in Kansas City will make for a frigid NFL playoff game Saturday night, when the Chiefs host Miami at Arrowhead Stadium. The temperature could be below zero by kickoff and get worse as the game goes on.

Another playoff game will face winter’s wrath on Sunday. Fans in Buffalo will contend with up to a foot of snow and fierce winds as the Bills host Pittsburgh.

Flooding in the Northeast

Other areas of the Northeast had flooding concerns. Emergency responders helped evacuate some residents from their homes in Paterson, New Jersey, early Friday as the Passaic River started overflowing its banks. The new storm, combined with one earlier in the week, created flooding worries in Maine and New Hampshire, too.

Volunteers and city leaders in several places were worried about the homeless.

Portland, Oregon, is more accustomed to winter rain, but snow was in the forecast. Tyrone McDougald wore a long-eared, leopard-style hat on Thursday as he sorted through racks of warm clothes at a homeless service center. He was already wearing multiple layers, but with no roof of his own, he grabbed two more coats to help him face a bitter cold snap arriving in the Northwest.

“I’m hoping that I can get in a shelter,” he said. “That would relieve a lot of the burden.”

In one hour Thursday, during the lunch service at Blanchet House, a homeless services nonprofit in Portland, about 165 warm clothing items were claimed — including the coats McDougald grabbed.

Julie Showers, the nonprofit’s spokesperson, said people were desperate for dry clothes and shoes after days of cold rain.

“We worry about frostbite, hypothermia,” she said. “There are a lot of people experiencing homelessness in Portland that are in mental health crisis … and slowly become hypothermic laying on the street because they don’t understand how cold it’s getting.”

In the Chicago area, advocates worried for the growing population of migrants sent from the U.S.-Mexico border. Hundreds are staying in eight parked “warming buses” to avoid sleeping outside while they await space in city-run shelters.

Among them was Angelo Travieso, a Venezuelan bused from Texas. He wore a light jacket and sandals with socks.

“I slept sitting because there is almost no space left,” he said. “The buses are also small, and you practically have to stay inside because of the heating, because it is deadly cold outside.”

washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted Friday he is sticking with the bipartisan spending deal he struck with the other congressional leaders, but he offered no clear path for overcoming hard-right opposition within his own party to prevent a partial government shutdown next week.

Johnson emerged from days of testy meetings behind closed doors at the Capitol to read a terse statement. Just months on the job, the new speaker is trying to set the record straight that he will not renege on the budget deal he made earlier this week. But in his first big test as the new leader, he has yet to show how he will quell the revolt from his right flank that ousted his predecessor.

“Our top-line agreement remains,” Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said, referring to the budget accord reached January 7.

“We are getting our next steps together, and we are working toward a robust appropriations process,” he said. “So, stay tuned for all that.”

It’s the same intractable political dilemma that led a core group of right-flank Republicans to boot Representative Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s office last year as they revolted against the deal he struck with the other congressional leaders and President Joe Biden signed into law.

Lawmakers during the first work week of the new year are furious that, after spending much of 2023 watching hard-right Republicans fight the leaders, they are quickly careening toward another crisis with just a week to go before the January 19 deadline to fund parts of the government or risk a shutdown yet again.

As some Republicans from the Freedom Caucus again raise the threat of a motion to oust the speaker over the deal, other Republicans are furious they are starting 2024 with the same problems of governing.

In the morning before Johnson made his statement, he met with about two dozen House Republicans, more of them centrist-leaning voices, urging him not to go back on his word and stick with the deal.

The centrists assured Johnson they have his back.

“I just can’t imagine the House wants to relive the madness,” said Representative French Hill of Arkansas, who had helped McCarthy negotiate the initial agreement with Biden and the other leaders.

“This concept of trying to break a deal that was negotiated, it’s a foreign concept,” said Republican Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida. “What you would be asking is for the speaker to basically break his word and lie. That’s just something you can’t ask him to do.”

Since Congress resumed from the holiday break, Johnson has been holed up in his office at the Capitol receiving a steady stream of Republican lawmakers trying to force his hand.

Just two days into the workweek, the House hit a crisis Wednesday when hard-right Republicans forced the chamber to a standstill. They voted against a routine procedural rules package as a way to demand the speaker’s attention.

They are pressing Johnson to refuse the deal, with its $1.66 trillion in spending for the year, and to instead consider a temporary measure that would keep the government open but force 1% across-the-board cuts that are required to kick in if the broader package falls apart.

The hard-right flank is also insisting that new immigration policies be included, which they say would stop the record flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Republican Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona said in floor remarks that Republicans should “shut the government down until you shut the border down.”

But by Friday it was more centrist lawmakers making their way to Johnson’s office, many of them who serve on the appropriations panels writing the spending bills, urging him to hold firm to the deal he struck.

Some have suggested that Johnson should consider trying to pass a temporary measure that would fund the government for several more weeks, into March.

Biden signed the spending framework into law as part of a deal he struck last spring with McCarthy. It was agreed to by the other congressional leaders from both parties and approved by the House and Senate as part of an effort to raise the nation’s debt limit to avert a federal default.

In the time since, congressional leaders have been working to devise the top-line spending numbers. McCarthy could never deliver on the final numbers before he was ousted after reaching across the aisle to pass a temporary measure in September and prevent a shutdown at that time.

Johnson and the other leaders, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, picked up where they left off and reached a top-line deal at the start of the year that the speaker is now trying to have approved.