The U.S. and U.K. militaries have carried out a series of strikes against Houthi targets, hours after they carried out their 27th attack against commercial vessels in Middle Eastern waterways.
These strikes “targeted the Houthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, uncrewed surface vessel, land-attack cruise missile, and costal radar and air surveillance capabilities,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who remains hospitalized, said in a statement. “This action is intended to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ capabilities to endanger mariners and threaten global trade in one of world’s most critical waterways.”
U.S. and U.K. forces used precision-guided munitions in their strikes “to minimize collateral damage,” a senior military official told reporters.
The military official told reporters the U.S. has “not seen any direct retaliatory action towards our US or other coalition members in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab [Strait], or Gulf of Aden,” and added, “We remain prepared of course to defend ourselves.”
Friday’s strikes came after weeks of warnings from the United States. In particular, the U.S. and roughly a dozen other nations warned them on Jan. 3 that continued attacks on commercial ships would incur a response.
“Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces — together with the United Kingdom 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 Joe Biden said in a statement on Thursday morning.
Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands supported the strikes.
“Unfortunately, the Houthis continue, day after day, to attack shipping,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday while traveling in Egypt. “We have a number of countries that have made clear that, if it doesn’t stop, there’ll have to be consequences, and unfortunately it hasn’t stopped. But we want to make sure that it does, and we’re prepared to do that.”
Their most recent attack took place on Thursday when they fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden.
Earlier this week, they launched what U.S. Central Command described as a “complex attack.” The Tuesday night attack included 18 unmanned aerial vehicles, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile that were fired toward the international shipping lanes where there were dozens of vessels transiting the area.
Biden stated that the Houthis’ Jan. 9 attack, their largest to date, “directly target[ed] American ships.”
The Houthis’ continued attacks have forced commercial shipping companies to reroute their cargo to avoid the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal, instead opting for them to take a much longer route around Africa.
The U.S. has attempted to balance a fine line in the Middle East with the ultimate goal of avoiding a wider and potentially regional conflict emerging from Israel’s war against Hamas. This is the first time the U.S. has carried out offensive strikes against the Houthis since their attacks on commercial vessels began in mid-November.
“This strike was two months overdue, but it is a good first step toward restoring deterrence in the Red Sea,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MI), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “I appreciate that the administration took the advice of our regional commanders and targeted critical nodes within Houthi-controlled Yemeni territory. It is important that we follow this action in close consultation with our Saudi partners to ensure they are with us as the situation develops.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
U.S. forces have carried out strikes against Iraqi militias, which have Iran’s support like the Houthis, who have launched roughly 130 attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria. U.S. officials have said the Houthis rely on Iran for intelligence to carry out their attacks.
The Houthis have claimed their attacks on commercial vessels are in protest of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, in particular the overwhelming death toll. A U.S. administration official called their explanation “completely baseless.”
