U.S. carries out new strike in Yemen after Biden vows to keep pressure on

The
United
States
carried
out
an
additional
strike
against
Yemen’s
Houthi
forces
on
Friday,
two
officials
told
Reuters,
after
President
Joe
Biden’s
administration
vowed
to
protect
shipping
in
the
Red
Sea.

The
latest
strike,
which
one
of
the
U.S.
officials
said
targeted
a
radar
site,
came
a
day
after
dozens
of
U.S.
and
British
strikes
on
the
Iran-backed
group’s
facilities.

The
officials,
speaking
on
the
condition
of
anonymity,
did
not
provide
more
details.
Radar
infrastructure
has
been
a
key
target
in
the
U.S.
military
effort
to
halt
Houthi
attacks
in
the
Red
Sea.

The
Houthi
movement’s
television
channel
Al-Masirah
reported
that
the
United
States
and
Britain
were
targeting
the
Yemeni
capital
Sanaa
with
raids.

Intensifying
concerns
about
a
widening
regional
conflict,
U.S.
and
British
warplanes,
ships
and
submarines
on
Thursday
launched
missiles
against
targets
across
Yemen
controlled
by
the
group,
which
has
cast
its
maritime
campaign
as
support
for
Palestinians
under
siege
by
Israel
in Hamas-ruled
Gaza.

Even
as
Houthi
leaders
swore
retaliation,
Biden
warned
earlier
on
Friday
that
he
could
order
more
strikes
if
they
do
not
stop
their
attacks
on merchant
and
military
vessels in
one
of
the
world’s
most
economically
vital
waterways.

“We
will
make
sure
that
we
respond
to
the
Houthis
if
they
continue
this
outrageous
behavior,”
Biden
told
reporters
during
a
stop
in
Pennsylvania
on
Friday.

Witnesses
confirmed
explosions
early
on
Friday,
Yemen
time,
at
military
bases
near
airports
in
the
capital
Sanaa
and
Yemen’s
third
city
Taiz,
a
naval
base
at
Yemen’s
main
Red
Sea
port
Hodeidah
and
military
sites
in
the
coastal
Hajjah
governorate.

White
House
spokesperson
John
Kirby
said
the
strikes
had
targeted
the
Houthis’
ability
to
store,
launch
and
guide
missiles
or
drones,
which
the
group
has
used
in
recent
months
to
threaten
Red
Sea
shipping.

The
Pentagon
said
the
U.S.-British
assault
reduced
the
Houthis’
capacity
to
launch
fresh
attacks.
The
U.S.
military
said
60
targets
in
28
sites
were
hit.

The
Houthis,
who
have
controlled
most
of
Yemen
for
nearly
a
decade,
said
five
fighters
were
killed,
but
they
vowed
to
continue
their
attacks
on
regional
shipping.

The
UK
Maritime
Trade
Operations
information
hub
said
it
had
received reports of
a
missile
landing
in
the
sea
around
500
meters
(1,600
feet)
from
a
ship
about
90
nautical
miles
southeast
of
the
Yemeni
port
of
Aden.

The
shipping
security
firm
Ambrey
identified
it
as
a
Panama-flagged
tanker
carrying
Russian
oil.

Drone
footage
on
the
Houthis’
al-Masirah
TV
showed
hundreds
of
thousands
of
people
in
Sanaa
chanting
slogans
denouncing
Israel
and
the
United
States.

“Your
strikes
on
Yemen
are
terrorism,”
said Mohammed
Ali
al-Houthi,
a
member
of
the
Houthi
Supreme
Political
Council.
“The
United
States
is
the
Devil.”

Biden,
whose
administration
removed
the
Houthis
from
a
State
Department
list
of
“foreign
terrorist
organizations”
in
2021,
was
asked
by
reporters
if
he
felt
the term
“terrorist” described
the
movement
now.
“I
think
they
are,”
he
said.

The
Red
Sea
crisis
is
part
of
the
violent
regional
spillover
of
Israel’s
war
with
Hamas,
an
Iran-backed
Islamist
group,
in
the
Palestinian
enclave
of
Gaza.

Hamas
militants
rampaged
through
southern
Israel
on
Oct.
7,
killing
1,200
people
and
seizing
240
hostages.
Israel
has
responded
by
laying
waste
to
large
sections
of
Gaza
in
an
effort
to
annihilate
Hamas.
More
than
23,000
Palestinians
have
been
killed.

Tobias
Borck,
a
Middle
East
security
expert
at
Britain’s
Royal
United
Services
Institute,
said
the
Houthis
wanted
to
portray
themselves
as
champions
of
the
Palestinian
cause
but
were
mainly
concerned
about
retaining
power.

At
the
United
Nations
Security
Council,
U.S.
Ambassador
Linda
Thomas-Greenfield
defended
the
Yemen
strikes,
saying
they
were
intended
to
“to
disrupt
and
degrade
the
Houthis’
ability
to
continue
the
reckless
attacks
against
vessels
and
commercial
shipping.”

Russia’s
U.N.
Ambassador
Vassily
Nebenzia
said
earlier
that
the
U.S.
and
Britain
“single-handedly
triggered
a
spillover
of
the
conflict
(in
Gaza)
to
the
entire
region.”

In
Washington,
Kirby
said,
“We’re
not
interested
in
…
a
war
with
Yemen.”

In
a
poor
country
only
just
emerging
from
nearly
a
decade
of
war
that
brought
millions
to
the
brink
of
famine,
people
fearing
an
extended
new
conflict
queued
at
gas
stations.

The
price
of
Brent
crude
oil rose
more
than
$2 on
Friday
on
concern
that
supplies
could
be
disrupted,
but
later
gave
up
half
its
gain.

Biden
said
on
Friday
he
was
“very
concerned”
about
the
impact
of
war
in
the
Middle
East
on
oil
prices.

Commercial
ship-tracking
data
showed
at
least
nine
oil
tankers
stopping
or
diverting
from
the Red
Sea.

The
strikes
follow
months
of
raids
by
Houthi
fighters,
who
have
boarded
ships
they
claimed
were
Israeli
or
heading
for
Israel.
Many
of
the
vessels
had
no
known
connection
to
Israel.

The
United
States
and
some
allies
sent
a
naval
task
force
in
December,
and
recent
days
saw
increasing
escalation.
On
Tuesday,
the
United
States
and
Britain
shot
down
21
missiles
and
drones.

However,
not
all
major
U.S.
allies
chose
to
back
the
strikes
inside
Yemen.

The
Netherlands,
Australia,
Canada
and
Bahrain
provided
logistical
and
intelligence
support,
while
Germany,
Denmark,
New
Zealand
and
South
Korea
signed
a
joint
statement
defending
the
attacks
and
warning
of
further
action.

But
Italy,
Spain
and
France chose not
to
sign
or
participate,
fearing
a
wider
escalation.

A
senior
U.S.
official
accused
Tehran
of
providing
the
Yemeni
group
with
military
capabilities
and
intelligence
to
carry
out
their
attacks.

Iran condemned the
strikes
but
there
has
been
no
sign
so
far
that
Iran
is
seeking
direct
conflict.

Iranian
Foreign
Minister
Hossein
Amirabdollahian
said
the
White
House
could
“restore
security
across
the
region”
by
stopping
its
“all-out
military
and
security
cooperation”
with
Israel.

Houthi
attacks
have
forced
commercial
ships
to
take
a
longer,
costlier
route
around
Africa,
creating
fears
of
a
new
bout
of
inflation
and
supply
chain
disruption.
Container shipping
rates for
key
global
routes
have
soared
this
week.