IRIA News

Updated on January 14, 2024

The United States and the United Kingdom launched a series of airstrikes and missile attacks against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen. The massive attacks were conducted using naval warships, fighter jets, and submarines as a retaliatory move against the Houthis, who have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea.

The Middle East command of the U.S. Air Force engaged in operations where it targeted more than 60 sites across 16 locations in Yemen. The strikes focused on various assets such as command-and-control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced that American and British forces, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted the attacks as an attempt to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies would not tolerate the attacks by any militant group on the Red Sea commercial shipping routes. He added that the military actions were taken after failed diplomatic negotiations and careful deliberation.

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea, including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

He noted the attacks endangered U.S. personnel and civilian mariners and jeopardized trade, and he added, “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

On Jan. 11 at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets to degrade their capability to continue their illegal and… pic.twitter.com/bR8biMolSx

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 12, 2024

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the airstrikes, which took place around 3 A.M. in Yemen, targeted “radar systems, air defense systems, and storage and launch sites for one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.”

CENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said “We hold the Houthi militants and their destabilizing Iranian sponsors responsible for the illegal, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks on international shipping that have impacted 55 nations so far, including endangering the lives of hundreds of mariners, including the United States. Their illegal and dangerous actions will not be tolerated, and they will be held accountable.”

The Houthis’ spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said on Friday there was no justification for the strikes and vowed to continue targeting ships heading for Israel – although he claimed navigation was “safe and normal for all ships except for Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of the Israeli entity”.

A member of the group’s governing council, Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi described the attacks as “barbaric”. Houthi sources claim that the attacks were conducted at 73 different locations, including some sites close to Yemen’s capital Sana’a. No civilian casualties have been reported by either side.

Second wave of attack

The U.S. and UK forces orchestrated a second attack on Houthi sites on January 13, 2024. The second wave of attacks targeted Houthi-controlled military targets in Yemen. U.S. Central Command said the “follow-on action” on early Saturday against a Houthi radar site was conducted by the Navy destroyer USS Carney using Tomahawk land attack missiles.

U.S. President Joe Biden seemingly unilaterally executed the actions and ordered the strikes bypassing Congress. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorized the military attack in Yemen from a hospital, where he is recovering from medical complications related to his prostate cancer surgery.

Biden was asked about the attacks, as he left the White House to spend the weekend at Camp David, he said, “We delivered it privately and we’re confident we’re well prepared,” he told reporters.

“We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” Biden said. He also pushed back against some lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, who said he should have sought congressional authorization before carrying out the strikes. “They’re wrong, and I sent up this morning when the strikes occurred exactly what happened,” Biden said.

Operation Prosperity Guardian

The recent military operation is a part of Western countries’ efforts to protect the Red Sea shipping lanes, the commercial maritime route vital for international trade and particularly for oil supplies to Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the world.

During his visit to the Middle East in December 2023, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a new U.S.-led joint operation military operation to protect the commercial shipping routes in the Red Sea. According to Austin, Operation Prosperity Guardian focuses on “security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden”.

Operation Prosperity Guardian has brought together naval forces from multiple countries including the U.S., UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain, to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The operation is also a part of the U.S.’s larger, Freedom of Navigation project that aims to protect commercial naval routes around the world.

World reaction

Several Middle Eastern and global stakeholders have reacted to the U.S. and UK’s joint military operation in Yemen. Spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanaani said These attacks are a clear violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a breach of international laws.”

The Iranian foreign ministry termed the attacks an “extend the full support of the US and UK in approximately the past 100 days for the war crimes of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people and the besieged citizens of Gaza.”

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry called for restraint and “avoiding escalation” after the strikes and said it was monitoring the situation with “great concern”.

“The kingdom emphasizes the importance of maintaining the security and stability of the Red Sea region, as the freedom of navigation in it is an international demand,” it said.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the strikes and said the US and UK are “trying to turn the Red Sea into a sea of blood”. He said that “all of these acts are disproportionate use of force,” adding that “Israel also resorts to this disproportionate use of force in Palestine.”

NATO, which was not directly involved in the strikes, justified the U.S. and UK’s attacks in Yemen by saying that “these strikes were defensive and designed to preserve freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways. The alliance spokesperson said “Houthi forces are supported, supplied, and equipped by Iran. So, Tehran has a special responsibility to rein in its proxies,”

Russia condemned the strike and termed the attacks as a violation of international law. Moscow said that the United States is wrongly taking advantage of the situation in the region. “The U.S. air strikes on Yemen are another example of the Anglo-Saxons’ perversion of UN Security Council resolutions,” said Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry spokesperson.

Zakharova said the strikes showed a “complete disregard for international law” and were “escalating the situation in the region”.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis, a Yemeni militia group, derive their name from their founder, Hussein Badreddin Al-Houthi, and advocate for the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam. Originating in the 1980s, the Houthis emerged in protest against Saudi Arabia’s religious influence in Yemen. With an estimated 20,000 fighters, officially known as Ansar Allah, the group controls the majority of the western part of the country and governs its Red Sea coastline.

Iran supports the Houthis as part of its longstanding conflict with Saudi Arabia, and the Houthis are assisting Hamas in the Gaza war. Following the Hamas incident on October 7, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi declared that his forces were prepared to mobilize in the hundreds of thousands to stand alongside the Palestinian people and confront the common enemy.

Shortly after Israel attacked Gaza, the Houthis initiated missile and drone assaults on vessels in the Red Sea. The majority of these attacks were thwarted by countermeasures deployed by the United States and Israel.