Yemen’s Houthis attack in Red Sea, US and UK retaliates
Updated: Jan 12th, 2024
Image: IANS |
After Yemen’s Houthi group has launched a new attack on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden in the wee hours of Jan 10, the US president Joe Biden has said that he ordered the strikes as retaliation.
As quoted by media reports, Biden said, “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea”.
A US-led coalition struck Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen on Jan 11, a dramatic escalation after the group ignored warnings from the Biden administration and other governments to stop attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea, a news channel reported.
In a statement on Jan 11, president Biden characterised the strikes as a necessary response to the pattern of violence that has affected several countries, saying they were directed at “a number of targets” used by the Houthis to launch their attacks. He did not disclose whether anyone had been killed in the operation.
“These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardised trade, and threatened freedom of navigation,” he said as quoted by a news channel.
Biden added that he will “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary”.
Iran-backed attacks?
Senior US officials have blamed Iran for having “aided and abetted” the crisis in the Red Sea, saying the Houthis would be incapable of threatening the shipping route if not for Tehran’s technological and intelligence support.
US and UK carry out airstrikes
The US and UK militaries launched strikes against several used by the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“Today, at my direction, US military forces together with the UK and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world's most vital waterways,” president Biden said in a statement released by the White House as quoted by news channel.
The strikes were from fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles. More than a dozen Houthi targets were fired upon by missiles fired from air, surface, and sub platforms and were chosen for their ability to degrade the Houthis’ continued attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, a US official told the news channel.
They included radar systems, drone storage and launch sites, ballistic missile storage and launch sites, and cruise missile storage and launch sites.
The strikes are a sign of the growing international alarm over the threat to one of the world’s most critical waterways. For weeks, the US had sought to avoid direct strikes on Yemen because of the risk of escalation in a region already simmering with tension, but the ongoing Houthi attacks on international shipping compelled the coalition to act.
Hours before the strike on Jan 11, Pentagon spokesman major general Pat Ryder said Iran “has a role to play” in getting the Houthis to stop their “reckless, dangerous, and illegal activity”. If they did not, he said, “there will be consequences”.
In a speech on Jan 11, 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 in the sea, the news channel reported.
On Jan 11, US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned while travelling in the region that “if it doesn’t stop, there will have to be consequences. And unfortunately, it hasn’t stopped”.
Blinken also said he doesn’t believe the war in Gaza is escalating into a regional conflict, even as he warned of “a lot of danger points”. While in the region, Blinken visited Bahrain, home to the US naval forces central command and the navy’s fifth fleet.
An important aspect of Blinken’s trip to the Middle East was to tell regional leaders that if the US takes military action against the Houthis, it should be seen as defensive, not escalatory, according to a senior state department official.
Houthis notorious in Red Sea
The Houthis and Iran-backed Shia political and military organisation that has been fighting a civil war in Yemen against a coalition backed by Saudi Arabia have been launching drones and missiles at commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea for weeks, many of which have been intercepted and shot down by US navy ships in the area.
The rebel group has said that it is acting in support of Hamas’ fight against Israel in Gaza, following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct 7.
On Jan 10, the United Nations Security Council passed a US- and Japan-led resolution condemning “in the strongest terms the at least two dozen Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels since November 19, 2023” and demanding “that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks”. Eleven countries voted in favour of the resolution. Four abstained, including China and Russia. A Western diplomat told a news channel that the US accommodated some of China’s requests on the language of the resolution.
US strikes in Yemen are not unprecedented; according to the Council on Foreign Relations, the US has conducted nearly 400 airstrikes in Yemen since 2002. But White House and Pentagon officials have said since Hamas' invasion that they do not want to see the conflict in Gaza expand into the region, the news channel reported.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said last week that the US is “not looking for a conflict with the Houthis”.
Among the US’ concerns about taking direct action inside Yemen is the risk of upsetting a carefully brokered truce in the war in Yemen between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which a US official previously told the news channel the Biden administration considers one of its most significant foreign policy achievements.
The US and its allies issued a warning to the Houthis on Jan 3, saying in a joint statement that the Houthis “will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region's critical waterways”.
Compiled from IANS
-Edited for style
For more such updates and news on the go, follow us on Instagram | YouTube | Facebook
Your privacy
By clicking “Accept all cookies”, you agree Gujarat Samachar can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy