2024-01-18 20:57:00
The latest US attacks hit two Houthi anti-ship missiles (Europa Press/Contact/Mcs Rylin Paul/US Navy)
The United States launched new attacks against Yemen’s Houthis on Thursday, and President Joe Biden said they would continue until rebels backed by Iran’s regime stop attacking ships in the Red Sea.
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The latest U.S. strikes hit two anti-ship missiles that the Houthis, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, were preparing to fire into the busy shipping corridor, the U.S. military said.
US forces have launched several rounds of airstrikes against the Houthis, since an initial bombing by the United States and Britain last Friday, raising tensions in the Middle East.
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Biden, who is seeking re-election in November, admitted that Western strikes had yet to deter Houthi attacks on international shipping.
“When you say ‘work, are they stopping the Houthis?’ No. Are they going to continue? Yes,” the American president told reporters at the White House when asked if the attacks were working. Minutes later, the Government announced the latest attacks against Yemen’s rebels.
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“We did it again this morning, striking a pair of anti-ship missiles that we had reason to believe were being primed for an imminent fire in the southern Red Sea,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Washington says the objective is to reduce the rebels’ capacity (Europa Press/Contact/Mc2 Keith Nowak/US Navy)
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) maintained that missiles in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen posed an “imminent threat” to merchant ships and US Navy vessels in the region.
“U.S. forces subsequently attacked and destroyed the missiles in self-defense,” he said in a statement.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that U.S. Navy warplanes carried out the latest strikes and said airstrikes that began against the Houthis last week have been able to “degrade, seriously disrupt and destroy a significant number of its capabilities.”
On Wednesday, the United States again designated the Houthis as a “terrorist” group and carried out strikes against 14 Houthi missiles.
Washington says the goal is to reduce the rebels’ ability to carry out missile and drone attacks against international shipping in one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.
Rebels control a war-torn swath of Yemen.
Despite US and British attacks, the Houthis have continued to attack international shipping, most recently attacking a US-owned bulk cargo ship.
The US once again included Yemen’s Houthis on its list of terrorist groups due to the attacks in the Red Sea (Osamah Yahya/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
Western attacks on Yemen have raised fears of a further escalation of tensions in the region following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza.
The White House added that “we certainly don’t want that to be the case” that attacks against the Houthis continue indefinitely and further raise tensions in the Middle East.
“We are not looking for a conflict with the Houthis, we are not looking for a conflict in the region,” Kirby said. “But we have to be able to act in our own defense, not only for our ships and our sailors but also for international shipping in the Red Sea.”
A senior Yemeni official said Thursday that its military forces need foreign help to launch a ground operation against the Houthis that would back up attacks by the United States and the United Kingdom.
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