US and Britain launch strikes against the Houthis in Yemen

• They launched air and sea strikes against Houthi military targets.
• The Houthis’ ability to threaten commercial shipping has “taken a blow”.
• Strikes intended to weaken the Houthis’ military capabilities.

WASHINGTON/ATEN: The United States and Britain have launched air and sea strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to the movement’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea, a dramatic regional widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

As confirmed by witnesses in Yemen, the explosions throughout the country ReutersPresident Joe Biden warned in a statement late Thursday that he would not hesitate to take further action if necessary.

“These targeted strikes are a clear signal that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to jeopardize freedom of navigation,” Biden said.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that “early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten commercial shipping has been hit.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is hospitalized due to complications from surgery, said in a statement that the strikes targeted Houthi capabilities, including drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, coastal radar and aerial surveillance.

A Houthi official confirmed the “raids” in the capital Sana’a along with the cities of Saada and Dhamar as well as the Hodeidah governorate, calling them “US-Zionist-British aggression”.

The witnesses said Reuters that the raids targeted a military base next to Sanaa airport, a military site near Taiz airport, a Houthi naval base in Hodeidah and military facilities in Hajjah governorate.

The ongoing attacks are one of the most dramatic demonstrations yet of the widening Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East since it broke out in October, although the US has said there is no intention of escalating tensions.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were carried out by aircraft, a ship and a submarine. The official said more than a dozen locations were targeted and the strikes were intended to weaken the Houthis’ military capabilities and were not merely symbolic.

“The objective of these strikes was very clear from the beginning and by the President, and that was to remove the ability of the Houthis to target shipping vessels, whether commercial or military,” a different senior US official said.

The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have defied calls from the UN and other international appeals to end missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes and warnings from the United States of consequences if they do not .

The Houthis say their attacks support Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza. Israel launched a military offensive that killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 kidnapped.

Since late December, the Houthis have attacked 27 ships, disrupting international trade on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15 percent of global shipping traffic.

The Houthis, who have seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships bound for Israel or bound for Israeli ports. However, many of the targeted ships had no ties to Israel.

The Houthi leader said on Thursday that any US attack against the group would not go unanswered.

27 Houthi attacks on ships

The US military said on Thursday that the Houthis fired a ballistic missile against ships in international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden, the 27th attack by the group since November 19.

The overnight strikes in Yemen came just days after the Houthis’ biggest offensive to date on January 9 in the Red Sea, which forced US and British navies to shoot down 21 Houthi drones and missiles fired into the southern Red Sea. The US military described it as a complex attack.

Biden, in his statement, said the Houthis were directly targeting American ships.

Prominent Republicans in Congress welcomed the move but called it overdue, while some of Biden’s Democrats expressed concern that the US could be embroiled in another decades-long war.

“This strike is two months late, but it’s a good first step toward restoring deterrence in the Red Sea,” said U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In December, more than 20 countries agreed to join a US-led coalition known as Operation Prosperity Guardian that protects commercial traffic in the Red Sea. However, US and British strikes take place outside this defense coalition.

Biden said Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands supported the operation.

“The international community’s response to these reckless attacks was united and decisive,” Biden said.