US and British forces yesterday struck rebel-held Yemen after weeks of disruptive attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed Houthis, with the group saying it is acting in solidarity with Gaza.
Iran “strongly condemned” the pre-dawn airstrikes, which the US, Britain and eight other allies said were meant to “de-escalate tensions.”
China said it was “concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea,” and news of the strikes sent oil prices up more than 2 percent.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Sgt Lee Goddard / British Royal Air Force / UK Mod Crown Copyright
The Houthis have carried out attacks on what they deem to be Israeli-linked shipping in the key international trade route since Oct. 7, when Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel sparked the war, which is still raging in the Gaza Strip.
The rebels have controlled a major part of Yemen since a civil war erupted there in 2014 and are part of a regional Iran-backed “axis of resistance” against Israel and its allies.
Yesterday’s strikes targeted an airbase, airports and a military camp, the Houthis’ al-Masirah TV station said, with Agence France-Presse correspondents and witnesses reporting that they could hear heavy strikes in Hodeida and Sana’a.
“Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines and warplanes,” said Hussein al-Ezzi, the rebels’ deputy foreign minister. “America and Britain will have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression.”
US President Joe Biden called the strikes a “defensive action” after the Red Sea attacks and said he “will not hesitate” to order further military action if needed.
With fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles, 60 targets at 16 Houthi locations were hit by more than 100 precision-guided munitions, US Central Command said in a statement.
Unverified images on social media, some of them purportedly of al-Dailami airbase north of the rebel-held capital, Sana’a, showed explosions lighting up the sky as loud bangs and the roar of planes sounded.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said at least five people had been killed.
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanani said that the Western strikes “will have no result other than fueling insecurity and instability in the region,” while “diverting the world’s attention” from Gaza.
Biden in a statement called the strikes a success and said he ordered them “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.”
Biden called the strikes a “direct response” to the “unprecedented” attacks by the Houthis, which included “the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history.”
Blaming the Houthis for ignoring “repeated warnings,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement that the strikes were “necessary and proportionate.”
The Houthis said they would not be deterred.
“We affirm that there is absolutely no justification for this aggression against Yemen, as there was no threat to international navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote on X.
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