The British Ministry of Defense said early indications are that the Houthis' ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a hit.
- Attacks launched from the air and sea against Houthi military targets.
- The Houthis' ability to threaten merchant ships has “taken a hit.”
- The attacks were aimed at weakening the military capabilities of the Houthis.
WASHINGTON/ADEN: The United States and Britain 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 expansion of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza .
As witnesses in Yemen confirmed explosions across the country to ReutersPresident Joe Biden warned in a statement Thursday night that he would not hesitate to take further action if necessary.
“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to endanger freedom of navigation,” Biden said.
The British Ministry of Defense said in a statement that “early indications are that the Houthis' ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a hit.”
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is in the hospital due to surgical complications, said in a statement that the attacks targeted Houthi capabilities, including drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, coastal radars and aerial surveillance.
A Houthi official confirmed “raids” in the capital Sanaa, along with the cities of Saada and Dhamar, as well as Hodeidah governorate, calling them “American-Zionist-British aggression.”
The witnesses said Reuters that the attacks 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.
The ongoing attacks are one of the most dramatic demonstrations yet of the widening war between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East since it erupted in October, although the United States said there was no intention to escalate tensions.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attacks were carried out by planes, ships and submarines. The official said more than a dozen locations were attacked and that the attacks were aimed at weakening the Houthis' military capabilities and were not just symbolic.
“The goal of these attacks was very clear from the beginning and from the president, and it was to eliminate the Houthis' ability to attack maritime vessels, whether commercial or military,” another senior US military official said.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, defied U.N. and other international calls to stop their missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes and U.S. warnings of consequences if they did not. .
The Houthis say their attacks are in support of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza. Israel has launched a military attack that has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza after Hamas' attack on 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 around 15% of global maritime traffic.
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 ships attacked had no ties to Israel.
The Houthi leader said Thursday that any US attack on the group would not go unanswered.
27 Houthi attacks on ships
The US military said Thursday that the Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile at international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden, the group's 27th attack since Nov. 19.
The overnight strikes in Yemen came just days after the largest Houthi attack to date on January 9 in the Red Sea, which forced US and British naval forces to shoot down 21 Houthi drones and missiles fired into the southern Sea. Red. The US military described it as a complex attack.
Biden, in his statement, said the Houthis directly attacked American ships.
Prominent Republicans in Congress welcomed the move but called it late, while some of Biden's Democrats expressed concern that the United States could become embroiled in another decades-long war.
“This strike was delayed by two months, but it is a good first step toward restoring deterrence in the Red Sea,” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
In December, more than 20 countries agreed to participate in a US-led coalition, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, to safeguard commercial traffic in the Red Sea. However, the American and British attacks are occurring outside that defensive coalition.
Biden said Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands supported the operation.
“The international community's response to these reckless attacks has been united and determined,” Biden said.
