The United States and Britain launched attacks on targets linked to the Houthis in Yemen on Thursday. This came just days after Iranian-backed rebels carried out the “largest attack” ever on a transport ship in the Red Sea.
The retaliatory attack was the first since Houthi militants began firing on cargo ships in the Red Sea last year.
Four US officials anonymously confirmed to Reuters that the US and UK carried out the attack.
Officials informed shipping executives that targets included drone and missile launch sites, radar stations and weapons stockpiles in the coastal city of Hodeidah in Yemen, as well as Hajjah inland. wall street journal report.
Sites in Yemen's capital Sanaa may also be targeted.
Tensions in the Red Sea have been rising by the week since Islamic extremists began attacking and hijacking cargo ships passing through the crucial shipping corridor following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Their activities have halted surface commerce in the region and led some of the world's largest shipping companies to suspend operations in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have repeatedly ignored Western threats and continued to attack, despite repeated warnings from the US and allies that they would face “consequences” if they did not stop their attacks.
The Houthis launched their largest and most complex offensive to date on Tuesday, launching 18 drones and three missiles from strongholds in Yemen.
With U.S. and British forces safely shooting down the weapon, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken promised more “consequences” but did not elaborate on when or what they would include.
“I'm not going to telegraph or foretell that something like that might happen,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday. “We have made it clear with more than 20 other countries that if this situation continues as it did yesterday, there will be consequences.”
Other U.S. leaders have echoed Blinken's warnings in recent days. White House defense spokesman John Kirby also declined Wednesday afternoon to “telegraph” the U.S. plan, but said, “We're going to do what we have to do.”
The newspaper reported that the Houthis were stockpiling weapons in secure locations in populated areas in preparation for a possible attack by the United States, which Hamas, which is also funded by Iran, could thwart. This is a tactic used to
Houthi leaders have vowed to fight back even more forcefully if the U.S.-led coalition attacks.
Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said: “The retaliation for the US attack will not only be at the level of the current operation, which includes more than 24 drones and multiple missiles, but will be even larger. Probably.''
Although the Red Sea attacks ostensibly targeted ships carrying supplies supporting Israel, experts say the motives of the Houthis and Iran are much broader than that.
“The Houthis and the Iranians are directing the navigation of ships on the high seas. This is unbelievable, and the world seems powerless to stop it,” said Bill Roggio, fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. he told the Post.
“This is all part of a larger Iranian plan to defeat the US, force the US to abandon the Middle East, and expand the Iranian Islamic revolution in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Defeat Israel and defeat Saudi Arabia. For this reason,” Roggio said.
“The Houthis are doing their part.”
