The militant group has targeted ships in response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
February 24, 2024, 4:44 p.m. ET
• 4 min reading
A coalition of countries led by the United States and Britain launched a new round of attacks against Yemen's Houthis on Saturday “in response to ongoing Houthis attacks on commercial and naval vessels” in and around the Red Sea, officials said.
According to a joint statement from the eight countries involved, the attacks were against 18 targets, including those related to “underground weapons depots, missile storage facilities, single-use unmanned attack systems, air defense systems, radars and a helicopter.” “
“These precision strikes aim to disrupt and weaken the capabilities the Houthis use to threaten global trade, naval vessels and the lives of innocent sailors in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” the joint statement said.
It continues: “The Houthis' now more than 45 attacks on commercial and naval vessels since mid-November represent a threat to the global economy as well as regional security and stability and require an international response.”
The US has already targeted dozens of Houthi sites this year. Six countries supported the US and Britain in Saturday's strikes: Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
In his own statement, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, among other things: “We will continue to make it clear to the Houthis that they will face the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks that harm the economies of the Middle East, cause environmental damage,” and the Disrupting the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries.”
A fighter jet is seen in an undated photo released by U.S. Central Command announcing strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Feb. 24, 2024. Centcom
The Houthis said their attacks were in response to Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip, while they attacked Hamas in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack that sparked a war.
The US has publicly stressed that it wants to prevent this conflict from spilling over into the region and described its own attacks in Yemen as de-escalating.
Nevertheless, the established comparative pattern has also raised questions about the immediate effectiveness and long-term goals of the US strategy towards the Houthis.
“We need to think about our approach in these areas and we can't predict exactly how any of these groups will respond,” Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz in an exclusive interview January. “So we need to make sure we keep an eye on the protection of key partner forces, but also the possibility of depriving them of their capabilities.”
“And we don’t want to go down a path of major escalation that leads to a much broader conflict within the region,” Brown said.
He told Raddatz at the time that the American airstrikes had “had an impact” on the Houthis' ability to continue carrying out missile and drone attacks, but would not say to what extent.
ABC News' Luis Martinez and Meghan Mistry contributed to this report.