The Houthis fired an anti-ship missile “in response” to attacks by the United States and the United Kingdom on the rebel group's positions in Yemen, General Douglas Sims of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday, January 12, specifying that this was the case. The missile had not hit any ship. The United States and the United Kingdom struck thirty Houthi military sites on Thursday night and carried out more than 150 attacks in total, he said.
US President Joe Biden, in his first public comments since that operation, reiterated that he would “respond” if “the Houthis continue their unacceptable behavior.” He added that he “believes” that American strikes against the Houthis in Yemen have not caused “civilian casualties,” arguing that this was the case “for this reason as well.” [les frappes sont] a success,” he said during a brief exchange with journalists while visiting a company in Allentown, Pennsylvania (in the northeastern United States).
The American president, asked by journalists what message he had for Tehran after attacking this Iranian-backed rebel group, replied: “I have already sent my message to Iran. »
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“All American-British interests have become legitimate targets”
The Houthi rebels had threatened retaliation against the American-British attacks. “All US-British interests have become legitimate targets of the Yemeni armed forces following the direct and declared aggression against Yemen,” the Houthis Supreme Political Council, a top rebel authority, warned in a press release on Friday.
The American and British attacks, “73 raids,” targeted military sites in Sanaa and in the governorates of Hodeida (west), Taiz (south), Hajjah (northwest) and Saada (north), the Houthi military spokesman announced earlier.
The Houthi movement is part of the Iran-founded “Axis of Resistance,” which unites anti-Israel groups in the region, particularly the Lebanese Hezbollah and armed groups in Iraq and Syria. “This aggression (…) will not go unanswered,” the Houthi spokesman said, explaining that five people had been killed and six injured among the rebels.
For Tehran, this is a “blatant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty.”
For its part, Iran on Friday condemned the attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen and denounced a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty” of that country. The British-American operation responded to increasing attacks by Yemeni rebels on merchant ships in the Red Sea. With support from Iran, the Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is waging a war against Hamas.
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In a statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani “strongly condemned” attacks by the United States and United Kingdom against several cities in Yemen. According to a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP), after Friday prayers in Tehran, hundreds of people gathered in support of the Palestinian and Yemeni people and shouted hostile slogans towards the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel.
State television broadcast images of similar protests in several other Iranian cities. She later showed footage of a protest outside the British Embassy in Tehran, where participants waved Palestinian and Yemeni flags. “Down with Israel,” “Down with the United States” and “Down with Britain,” the demonstrators shouted and burned the flags of the three countries, according to an AFP journalist. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, against the American and British attacks.
UN calls for “escalation” to be avoided
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on “all parties concerned to avoid an escalation of the situation in the interest of peace and stability in the Red Sea and the entire region,” as his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said during the meeting A press conference announced the meeting.
At Russia's request, the UN Security Council was scheduled to meet urgently on this issue on Friday afternoon. The Security Council adopted a resolution on Wednesday calling for an “immediate” end to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, citing the right of member states to defend ships against such attacks.
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“The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea are unacceptable, threaten the security of global supply chains and have a negative impact on the economic and humanitarian situation around the world,” his spokesman added.
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