2024-01-12 06:00:00
(CNN) –– The United States and the United Kingdom on Thursday launched strikes once morest multiple Houthi targets in areas of Yemen controlled by the group, a significant response following the Biden administration and its allies warned that the Iran-backed militant group would suffer the consequences of repeated drone and missile attacks once morest commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
A video released by Houthi-run Al-Masira TV purportedly shows the moment of the bombing in Sana’a, Yemen. (Al-Masira TV)
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, assured that the attacks once morest areas controlled by the Houthis in Yemen are “a direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks once morest international maritime vessels in the Red Sea.”
In a statement issued this Thursday, the president assured that, under his direction, “US military forces, together with the United Kingdom and the support of Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, carried out successful attacks once morest several targets in Yemen. used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation along one of the world’s most vital waterways.”
“The international community’s response to these reckless attacks has been united and determined. Last month, the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending international shipping and deterring “Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. We also join more than 40 nations in condemning Houthi threats,” Biden said.
U.S. and coalition forces “executed deliberate strikes once morest more than 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant sites, including command and control nodes, ammunition depots, launch systems, production facilities, and defense radar systems.” according to a statement from Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, US Air Force Central Commander. More than 100 precision-guided munitions “of various types” were used, he added.
A still image from a video shows multiple explosions in Saada province, north of Sana’a, Yemen, on January 12 local time. From social networks
The attacks are also a sign of growing international alarm regarding the threat to one of the world’s major waterways. For weeks, the United States had tried to avoid direct attacks on Yemen due to the risk of escalation in a region already simmering with tension, but ongoing Houthi attacks on international shipping forced the coalition to act.
Senior Biden administration officials briefed congressional leaders early Thursday on U.S. plans, according to a Capitol Hill source.
The attacks come as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin remains hospitalized following complications from prostate cancer surgery.
The first known attack once morest Houthis in Yemen since the war broke out in Gaza
Although the United States has carried out strikes in Iraq and Syria once morest Iranian-backed groups since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, this is the first known strike once morest the Houthis in Yemen. And it comes at a time of enormous tension in the Middle East, as the United States seeks to ensure that the war in Gaza does not spread to the broader region.
In fact, the Biden administration remained cautious regarding attacking the Houthis, fearing it might upset a delicate ceasefire between the fighting group and Saudi Arabia that was reached following years of war.
However, the White House had made clear that repeated Houthi attacks on international shipping routes in the southern Red Sea might not be tolerated. In fact, the attacks have forced some of the world’s largest shipping companies to bypass the waterway, adding thousands of kilometers to international shipping routes by sailing around the African continent.
Hours before Thursday’s attack, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Iran “has a job to do” to get the Houthis to stop their “reckless, dangerous and illegal activity.” If they didn’t, he said, “there will be consequences.”
In a speech on Thursday, Houthi leader Abdul Malek Al-Houthi said that any US attack on Yemen “will not go unanswered,” cryptically warning that the response will be “much more” than attacking US ships at sea.
The attacks were carried out with fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles. More than a dozen Houthi targets were hit by missiles fired from air, surface and sub-platforms, a second US official told CNN. The targets were chosen for their ability to degrade continued Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the source added.
They included radar systems, storage and launch sites for drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
The USS Florida, a guided-missile submarine that entered the Red Sea on Nov. 23, participated in the attack on Yemen, according to a second U.S. official. Like the surface ships that participated in the attack, the submarine fired Tomahawk land attack missiles, the official said.
The United States had warned of “consequences”
This Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned during a trip to the region that “if they don’t stop, there will have to be consequences. And unfortunately, they haven’t stopped.”
The official also said he does not believe the war in Gaza is escalating into a regional conflict, although he warned of “many danger points.” During his visit to the region, Blinken visited Bahrain, headquarters of the United States Naval Forces Central Command and the Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
An important aspect of Blinken’s trip to the Middle East was communicating to regional leaders that if the United States takes military action once morest the Houthis, it should be understood as defensive, not escalatory, according to a senior State Department official.
The Houthis — an Iranian-backed political and military organization waging a civil war in Yemen once morest a Saudi-backed coalition — have been launching drones and missiles at merchant ships in the Red Sea for weeks, many of which were intercepted and shot down by ships. of the United States Navy in the area.
The rebel group has said it is acting in support of Hamas’s fight once morest Israel in Gaza, following the group’s attack on Israel on October 7.
This Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution led by the United States and Japan condemning “in the strongest terms the at least two dozen Houthi attacks once morest merchant and commercial vessels since November 19, 2023” and demands “that the Houthis immediately end all such attacks.”
Eleven countries voted in favor of the resolution. Four abstained, including China and Russia. A Western diplomat told CNN that the United States agreed to some of China’s requests regarding the resolution’s language.
The US attacks in Yemen are not unprecedented. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the United States has carried out nearly 400 airstrikes in Yemen since 2002. However, White House and Pentagon officials have said since the Hamas attack that they do not want the Gaza conflict to escalate. spread to the region. John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said last week that the United States “is not seeking a conflict with the Houthis.”
Among US concerns regarding taking direct action inside Yemen is the risk of upsetting a carefully negotiated truce in the Yemen war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which a US official previously told CNN the Biden administration views as one of his most significant achievements in foreign policy.
Houthis fight back
Houthi forces launched counterattacks on American and British warships in the Red Sea in retaliation for the attack by Western allies, a senior member of the Houthi group, Abdul Salam Jahaf, said in a statement early Friday local time. .
Meanwhile, the Houthi deputy foreign minister warned that the United States and the United Kingdom would face serious repercussions for what he called a blatant act of aggression.
Hussein al-Ezzi said Yemen was subject to a “massive aggressive attack” by American and British warships and fighter jets.
“Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines and warplanes, and the United States and the United Kingdom will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a high price and bear all the terrible consequences of this obvious aggression,” al-Ezzi said. saying.
The Houthi rebel group took control of parts of Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014, consolidating its power in the northern part of the country.
Houthi attacks
The United States and its allies issued a warning to the Houthis on January 3. In a joint statement they noted that the Houthis “will have to take responsibility for the consequences if they continue to threaten lives, the global economy and the free flow of commerce in the region’s major waterways.”
Still, the attacks have continued.
Just hours following the joint statement was released, the Houthis launched a surface drone once morest commercial shipping routes, marking the first time they used such a weapon since the beginning of their attacks. And this Tuesday, in one of the largest attacks by the group to date, three US Navy destroyers – the F/A-18s of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower – and a British destroyer – the HMS Diamond – shot down 21 missiles and drones. The attack did not cause damage to any ships and no injuries were reported.
Houthi fighters have also attempted to board commercial ships, including a recent case in which US helicopters sank three small Houthi vessels that were attacking the Maersk Hangzhou on December 30, killing their crew members.
Since November 19, there have been at least 27 Houthi attacks. As the United States and its allies weather continued attacks by the Houthis, there have also been at least 131 attacks on US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria since October 17, leading to several attacks on facilities linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian-backed forces. Last week, the United States attacked a member of the Iran-backed Harakat al-Nujaba group, which one official said has “American blood on its hands” in Iraq.
The Houthi attacks began shortly following the start of the war in Gaza, following they said they would attack ships linked to Israel. Norman Roule, former national intelligence director for Iran at the CIA, previously told CNN that the fact that Houthi commanders boast “to their tribal followers that they have carried out attacks once morest Israel and the United States enhances their standing within the movement.” .
However, many of the commercial vessels have had no connection to Israel. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Navy Central Command, stated last week that the United States estimates that 55 nations have “direct connections” to the ships that were targeted.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.
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