The US and Britain have launched strikes against sites that are linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen. This is the first instance of an attack on the country since the Houthi group started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea towards the end of last year.
President Joe Biden on Thursday said that the strikes are a clera message that the country and its allies will not “tolerate attacks” on their personnel or “allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation”. He further said that the US will not hesitate to carry out further action if required.
The British Defence Ministry said that as per the early indications the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow.”
What did the Houthis say on the attack?
A Houthi official confirmed that there have been “raids” in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, and other cities like Saada and Dhamar along with Hodeidah governorate. The Houthi group has called the attacks “American-Zionist-British aggression”.
A US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the strikes from the US and Britain were carried out by aircraft, ship and submarine. They added that the attacks targeted over a dozen locations and they were meant to weaken Houthi’s military capabilities and were not just symbolic.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, defied a U.N. and other international calls to halt their missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and warnings from the United States of consequences if they failed to do so.
They say their attacks are in support of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza. Israel has launched a military assault that has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people.
The group has attacked 27 ships to date, disrupting international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15% of the world’s shipping traffic.
Witnesses told Reuters that the raids on Thursday targeted a military base adjacent to Sanaa airport, a military site near Taiz airport, a Houthi naval base in Hodeidah and military sites in Hajjah governorate.
Earlier on Thursday, the Houthis’ leader said any U.S. attack on the group would not go without a response.
The Houthis, who seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel.
27 attacks by Houthis on ships
The U.S. military said on Thursday that the Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden, the 27th attack by the group since Nov. 19.
The overnight strikes in Yemen came just days after the Houthis largest attack to date on Jan. 9 in the Red Sea, which forced the U.S. and British naval forces to shoot down 21 Houthi drones and missiles fired towards the southern Red Sea. The U.S. military described it as a complex attack.
Biden, in his statement, said the Houthis directly targeted American ships.
In December, more than 20 countries agreed to participate in a U.S.-led coalition, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, safeguarding commercial traffic in the Red Sea. However, the U.S. and British strikes are taking place outside that defensive coalition.
Biden said Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands supported the operation.
“The response of the international community to these reckless attacks has been united and resolute,” Biden said in a statement.
(With Reuters input)