DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The British military launched airstrikes with the United States targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels, officials said early Wednesday, their first involvement with America's new intense campaign targeting the Iranian-backed group.

Britain’s military launched airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday with US forces, its defense ministry said – the first public acknowledgment of a joint operation since the Trump administration escalated the US campaign against the militant group.

American forces have hit more than 1,000 Houthi targets in Yemen as part of a campaign that began in March to stop attacks by the militants on the shipping lanes of the Red Sea, the Pentagon said Tuesday.