US, Britain launch strikes against Houthis in Yemen over Red Sea attacks
World
United States and Britain launched strikes against targets linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States and Britain on Thursday (Jan 11) launched strikes against targets linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen, the first strikes against the Iran-backed group since it started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea late last year.
The strikes involved fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles, several US media said. US officials did not immediately confirm the reports when contacted by AFP.
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the strikes were conducted with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands.
The strikes were in "direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea", he said in a statement released by the White House.
"These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardised trade, and threatened freedom of navigation," he said.
Biden said he would "not hesitate" to direct further measures to protect people and the free flow of commerce.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the British Royal Air Force, alongside the US, carried out targeted strikes against the Houthis.
He added that the Royal Navy will continue to patrol the Red Sea as part of a multinational operation to deter further Houthi aggression.
The UK will always stand up for the freedom of navigation and free flow of trade, he added.
A Houthi official confirmed "raids" across the country, including in the capital Sanaa along with the cities of Saada and Dhamar, as well as in the Hodeidah governorate, calling them "American-Zionist-British aggression".
The ongoing strikes are one of the most dramatic demonstrations to date of the widening of Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East since its eruption in October.
One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said more than a dozen locations were targeted and the strikes were intended to be more than just symbolic.
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.
The Pentagon declined comment.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, defied a UN call 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.
The Houthis say their attacks are a demonstration of support for Hamas, the Palestinian militant 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.
The Houthi have attacked 27 ships to date, disrupting international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15 per cent of the world's shipping traffic.
Earlier on Thursday, the Houthis' leader said any US attack on the group would not go without a response.
The Western strikes risk turning an already tense situation in the Middle East into a wider conflagration, pitting the United States and Israel against Iran and its regional proxies.
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.
The US military said on Thursday, that 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.
US and British naval forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthis on Tuesday towards the southern Red Sea, the largest attack in the area by the militants.
In December, more than 20 countries agreed to participate in a US-led coalition, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, safeguarding commercial traffic in the Red Sea.
