US official: We have struck more than 60 Houthi targets, and additional reinforcements will arrive soon.

A US official said that military operations against the Houthi group will continue daily until they stop targeting American ships and shipping, and he did not rule out the possibility of the strikes expanding beyond Yemen.

The official confirmed to Al Jazeera that the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) launched strikes against more than 60 Houthi targets in Yemen between Saturday and Wednesday, asserting that these strikes eliminated engineers, operators, and officials associated with the drone program.

The official also indicated that the Trump administration is planning to reinforce US forces in the Middle East, and that these reinforcements will begin arriving in the region within the next two weeks.

Commenting on these statements, Al Jazeera's Washington correspondent, Fadi Mansour, said that the Pentagon's threat to expand the scope of strikes to targets outside Yemen was interpreted by officials as a signal that Iranian spy ships providing the Houthis with information about American vessels could be targeted.

In a related development, an Israeli official said Thursday that the United States had asked Tel Aviv not to respond to recent missile attacks launched by the Houthi group, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

The official, who declined to be identified, added, "The US administration asked Israel to leave the response to the Houthis to the United States."

According to the Israeli official, the US request comes as the United States has carried out large-scale strikes against the Houthis in recent days.

Last Saturday, the United States launched airstrikes against what it described as Houthi targets, saying the operation aimed to restore freedom of navigation in the region's maritime corridors.

Dozens of airstrikes and missile strikes killed more than 50 people in Sanaa and other Yemeni governorates.

The US attacks on Yemen began shortly after the Houthis announced the resumption of their operations against Israeli ships in the region's maritime corridors.

Source: Al Jazeera + Hebrew media