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- Author: Frank Gardner and Malu Cursino
- Scroll, BBC News
2 hours ago
US President Joe Biden said on Saturday (13/1) that the United States had sent a “private message” to Iran about the Houthis in Yemen after the US carried out a second attack on the group.
“We deliver [a mensagem] privately and we are confident that we are well prepared,” Biden said, without giving further details.
The US said this latest attack was a “followup” that targeted radar.
Iran denies involvement in Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
However, Tehran is suspected of supplying weapons to the Houthis and the US says Iranian intelligence is key to enabling the group to attack ships.
Joint airstrikes from Britain and the US hit nearly 30 Houthi positions in the early hours of Friday (still Thursday, Brasília time), with support from allies including Australia and Canada.
A day later, U.S. Central Command announced that it had carried out another attack, this time on a Houthi radar in Yemen using Tomahawk landattack missiles.
A Houthi spokesman told Portal the attacks had no significant impact on the group's ability to influence shipping.
Most Yemenis live in areas under Houthi control. In addition to the Yemeni capital Sanaa and northern Yemen, the Houthis control the Red Sea coast.
The official US and UK argument is that the ongoing airstrikes against Houthi targets are a separate event from the war in Gaza.
They would be “a necessary and proportionate response” to the Houthis’ “unprovoked and unacceptable” attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, they say.
In Yemen and throughout the Arab world, these attacks are viewed very differently.
There they are seen as the US and Britain joining the Gaza war on Israel's side, as the Houthis have said their actions are in solidarity with Hamas and the people of Gaza.
It is possible that these airstrikes will have a deterrent effect on the Houthis, reducing the group's ability to attack ships in the short term.
But the longer the airstrikes continue, the greater the risk that the US and Britain will be drawn into another conflict in Yemen.
It took the Saudis more than eight years to extricate themselves after intervening in the country's civil war and the Houthis are now more entrenched than ever.
caption,
Satellite photo shows damage in Hudaydah, Yemen, after US and UK attacks
According to the US, about 15% of global maritime trade passes through the Red Sea.
This includes 8% of the world's grain, 12% of the world's marine oil and 8% of the world's liquefied natural gas.
According to the US, the group has attempted to attack and harass ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden 28 times.
Since then, some major shipping companies have suspended operations in the region, while insurance costs have risen tenfold since the beginning of December.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign of airstrikes and ground operations against Hamas in Gaza has so far killed 23,843 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamasrun Health Ministry, and thousands more are believed to have died under the rubble.