U.S. Searches for Missing Navy SEALs, Launches Fresh Strikes on Houthis

The U.S. military was searching for two Navy SEALs lost at sea during an operation that seized Iranian-made missile parts bound for Houthi rebels in Yemen, as the U.S. launched another series of strikes against the group.

The waters off the Yemen coastline have become a zone of increasing geopolitical turbulence since the repercussions of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel spread into the wider region, drawing in Washington and Iran-backed groups such as the Houthis.

The SEALs, reported lost off the coast of Somalia on Friday, were taking part in a nighttime operation to board a boat in the international waters of the Arabian Sea, the U.S. military said. SEALs, or sea-air-land special-operations forces of the U.S. Navy, are specialists in unconventional warfare.