The U.S. and U.K. carried out strikes on targets in Yemen to retaliate for Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, President Biden announced in a statement Thursday night. The strikes were conducted with assistance from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.
“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Mr. Biden said, adding he will “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”
Officials declined to say exactly where and what the strikes hit, but U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement the strikes, “targeted the Houthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, uncrewed surface vessel, land-attack cruise missile, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities.”
Austin, who has been hospitalized because of an infection related to surgery to treat prostate cancer, monitored the operation in real time from the hospital, according to a U.S. defense official. The official said Austin was “actively involved” and spoke with the president twice in the past 72 hours leading up to the operation.
A senior military official told reporters Thursday night the strikes were launched from air, surface, and sub-surface platforms.
The U.S. and other countries had previously warned the Houthis of consequences should the attacks, which started shortly after the Israel-Hamas war began, continue.
In a joint statement, the U.S., U.K., Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea, said the strikes were in response to “continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea.”
“These precision strikes were intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of international mariners in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” the statement said.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a statement called the strikes “limited, necessary and proportionate” and said the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain provided “non-operational support.”
A congressional source familiar with the matter on Thursday told CBS News that “the Biden administration briefed congressional leaders today on the plans to strike Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.”
A senior military official said that, as of Thursday night, the U.S. has not seen evidence that the Houthis had retaliated on any U.S., U.K., or other vessels in the Red Sea, but added they would not be surprised to see a response.
The Houthis launched one of the largest attacks in the Red Sea yet on Tuesday. Three U.S. destroyers along U.S. F-18s and a British warship shot down 18 drones and multiple missiles launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Tuesday’s “complex attack,” as CENTCOM described it, occurred within a week of a joint statement from the U.S. and several other countries warning that the Houthis would face “consequences” if the attacks continued.
“The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the joint statement released by the White House last Wednesday said.
A senior administration official told reporters Thursday night that Mr. Biden convened his national security team following Tuesday’s attack, where he was presented with military response options. Mr. Biden directed Austin to carry out a response at the conclusion of that meeting, leading to Thursday’s strike, the official said.
Since Nov. 19, there have been at least 27 attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, according to CENTCOM. The attacks have prompted several giant shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal and transit around all of Africa instead.
In order to curb the impact on international trade, the U.S. along with several other countries launched a maritime task force “Operation Prosperity Guardian” to patrol the Red Sea. So far, the Houthis have not stopped their attacks.
The Biden administration has focused on preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict from turning into a wider regional war across the Middle East, but since the war started, Iranian-backed proxies have been launching attacks both in the Red Sea and against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon has tried to retaliate against other Iranian-backed militias for the steady drumbeat of attacks in Iraq and Syria without risking escalation, but the attacks have continued. There have been at least 130 attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October 17, including at least three since Monday.
Thursday’s strike is the first time the U.S. has conducted strikes against the Houthis since the attacks began in November.
The U.S. and United Kingdom on Thursday launched military strikes on Iranian-back Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for dozens of recent Houthi attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Nancy Cordes has more from the White House.
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The Houthis’ leader says any US attack will trigger a greater response as the group steps up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Any attack on Yemen’s Houthis on the part of the United States will not go without a response, the group’s leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi has said in a televised speech, as the Iranian-backed group stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Any American attack will not remain without a response. The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with 20 drones and a number of missiles,” the Houthi leader said, referring to a strike on Wednesday, when Houthi drones and missiles targeted US and United Kingdom ships in the largest single attack yet on foreign vessels.
“We are more determined to target ships linked to Israel, and we will not back down from that,” al-Houthi said.
The comments come after the US and 11 allies published a joint statement last week calling for an end to Houthi attacks from Yemen on Red Sea shipping, sending out an implicit threat of force.
Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa. The Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC), a key shipping industry group representing around 200 companies in Cyprus and abroad, said the attacks could have a “substantial” impact on economies and a knock-on effect on prices around the world.
“Where countries heavily depend on raw materials, gas, grain, [and] pharmaceuticals, we will have to assume that it will have a substantial impact on day-to-day living, business operations, and this will have a multiplying effect,” CSC Director Thomas Kazakos said.
The Houthi movement, an Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen after nearly a decade of war against a Western-backed and Saudi-led coalition, has emerged as a strong supporter of the Palestinian group Hamas in its war against Israel.
The Houthis have attacked commercial ships they say are linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports and have engaged directly with the US Navy in the Red Sea, firing ballistic missiles and deploying armed drones against US and UK warships.
Human Rights Watch, among other organisations, said attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects, if carried out deliberately or recklessly, would be a war crime. The rights watchdog argued that on more than one occasion, the targeted vessels presented no direct links to Israel or evidence of military targets on board.
US-allied Gulf and Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, have been pressing Washington for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying that is the only way to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, the chief negotiator for Yemen’s Houthis said the group’s attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea do not threaten its peace talks with Saudi Arabia, blaming Israel’s war on Gaza for dragging the Middle East into more regional conflict.
“It has nothing to do with what is happening in the Gaza Strip, unless the Americans want to move other countries in the region to defend Israel which is another matter,” Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters.
“The one who is dragging the region into a wider war is the one who allows the continuation of the aggression and the siege that continues for more than 100 days in the Gaza Strip.”
The group is seeking to pressure the Israelis and Americans into a ceasefire, including lifting the siege on Gaza and moving towards peace and dialogue, Abdulsalam added.
US forces have also been increasingly attacked in Iraq and Syria in the aftermath of Israel’s now three-month-old offensive into Gaza, launched in response to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
Western warplanes and guided missiles roared through the skies over Yemen in the early hours of Friday in a dramatic response to the worsening crisis engulfing the region, where the U.S. and its allies are facing a direct confrontation with Iranian-backed militants.
The strikes against Houthi fighters are a response to weeks of fighting in the Red Sea, where the group has attempted to attack or hijack dozens of civilian cargo ships and tankers in what it calls retribution for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Washington launched the massive aerial bombardment of the group’s military stores and drone launch sites in partnership with British forces, and with the support of a growing coalition that includes Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, South Korea and Bahrain.
Tensions between Tehran and the West have boiled over in the weeks since its ally, Hamas, launched its October 7 attack on Israel, while Hezbollah, the military group that controls much of southern Lebanon, has stepped up rocket launches across the border. Along with Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis form part of the Iranian-led ‘Axis of Resistance’ opposed to both the U.S. and Israel.
Now, the prospect of a full-blown conflict in one of the most politically fragile and strategically important parts of the world is spooking security analysts and energy markets alike.
Escalation fears
Houthi leaders responded to the strikes, which saw American and British forces hit more than 60 targets in 16 locations, with characteristic bravado. They warned the U.S. and U.K. will “have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences” for what they called a “blatant aggression.”
“We will confront America, kneel it down, and burn its battleships and all its bases and everyone who cooperates with it, no matter what the cost,” threatened Abdulsalam Jahaf, a member of the group’s security council.
However, following the overnight operation, Camille Lons, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there may now be “a period of calm because it may take Iran some time to replenish the Houthis stocks” before they are able to resume high-intensity attacks on Red Sea shipping. But, she cautioned, their motivation to continue to target shipping will likely be unaltered.
The Western strikes are “unlikely to immediately halt Houthi aggression,” agreed Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. national intelligence officer for the Near East. “That will almost certainly mean having to continue to respond to Houthi strikes, and potentially with increasing aggression.”
“The Houthis view themselves as having little to lose, emboldened militarily by Iranian provisions of support and confident the U.S. will not entertain a ground war,” he said.
Iran also upped the ante earlier this week by boarding and commandeering a Greek-operated oil tanker that was loaded with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey, intercepting it as it transited the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel, the St. Nikolas, was previously apprehended for violating sanctions on Iranian oil and its cargo was confiscated and sold off by the U.S. Treasury Department. Its Greek captain and crew of 18 Filipino nationals are now in Iranian custody, with the incident marking a sharp escalation in the threats facing maritime traffic.
Israeli connection
Washington and London are striving to distinguish their bid to deter the Houthis in the Red Sea from the war in Gaza, fearful that merging the two will hand Tehran a propaganda advantage in the Middle East. The Houthis and Iran are keen to accomplish the reverse.
The Houthi leadership claims its attacks on maritime traffic are aimed at pressuring Israel to halt its bombing of the Gaza Strip and it insists it is only targeting commercial vessels linked to Israel or destined to dock at the Israeli port of Eilat, a point contested by Western powers.
“The Houthis claim that their attacks on military and civilian vessels are somehow tied to the ongoing conflict in Gaza — that is completely baseless and illegitimate. The Houthis also claim to be targeting specifically Israeli-owned ships or ships bound for Israel. That is simply not true, they are firing indiscriminately on vessels with global ties,” a senior U.S. official briefing reporters in Washington said Friday.
Wider Near East crisis
The Red Sea isn’t the only hotspot where American and European forces and their allies are facing off against Iran and its partners.
In November, U.S. F-15 fighter jets hit a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria that the Pentagon says was used by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Shia militants it supports in the war-torn country. The response came after dozens of American troops were reportedly injured in attacks in Iraq and Syria linked back to Tehran.
Israel’s war with Hamas has also risked spreading, after a blast killed one of the militant group’s commanders in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, earlier in January. Hezbollah vowed a swift response and tensions have soared along the border between the two countries, with Israeli civilians evacuated from their homes in towns and villages close to the frontier.
All of that contributes to an increasingly volatile environment that has neighboring countries worried, said Christian Koch, director at the Saudi Arabia-based Gulf Research Center.
“There’s a lot at stake at the moment and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and others are extremely worried about further escalation and then being subject to retaliation,” he said. “Now, the danger of regional escalation has been heightened further, which could mean that Iran will get further involved in the conflict, and this is a dangerous spiral downwards.”
While long-planned efforts to normalize ties between the Saudis and Israel collapsed in the wake of the October 7 attack and the subsequent military response, Riyadh has pushed forward with a policy of de-escalation with the Houthis after a decade of violent conflict, and sought an almost unprecedented rapprochement with Iran.
“Saudi Arabia has had one objective, which is to prevent this from escalating into a wider regional war,” said Tobias Borck, an expert on Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute. “It has attempted over the last few years to bring its intervention in the war in Yemen to a close, including through negotiations with the Houthis and actually from all we know from the outside, [they] are reasonably close to an agreement.”
The Western coalition is therefore a source of anxiety, rather than relief, for Gulf States.
“Saudi Arabia and UAE are staying out of this coalition because mainly they don’t want to have the Houthis attack them as they had been for years and years with cruise missiles,” said retired U.S. General Mark Kimmitt, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. However, American or European boots on the ground are unlikely to be necessary, he added, because “our capabilities these days to find, fix and attack even mobile missile launchers is pretty well refined.”
Far-reaching consequences
At the intersection of Europe and Asia, the Red Sea is a vital thoroughfare for energy and international trade. Maritime traffic through the region has already dropped by 20 percent, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Slaars, the joint commander of French forces in the region, told reporters on Thursday.
According to data published this week by the German IfW Kiel institute, global trade fell by 1.3 percent from November to December, with the Houthi attacks likely to have been a contributing factor.
The volume of containers in the Red Sea also plummeted and is currently almost 70 percent below usual, the institute said. In December, that caused freight costs and transportation time to rise and imports and exports from the EU to be “significantly lower” than in November.
In one indication of the impact on industrial supply chains, U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla said Friday it would shut its factory in Germany for two weeks.
Around 12 percent of the world’s oil and 8 percent of its gas normally flow through the waterway, as well as hundreds of cargo ships. Oil prices climbed more than 2.5 percent following the strikes, fueling market concerns of the impact a wider conflict could have on oil supplies from the region, especially those being shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, linking the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean and the world’s most important oil chokepoint.
The Houthi attacks on the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, have already caused major shipping companies, including oil giant BP, to halt shipments through the Red Sea, opting for a lengthy detour around the Cape of Good Hope instead.
According to Borck, the impact on energy prices has been limited so far but will depend on what happens next.
“We need to look for two actors’ actions here. One is the Houthis, how they respond, and the other one is, of course, looking at how Iran responds,” he said. While Tehran has the “nuclear option” of closing the Strait of Hormuz altogether, it’s unlikely to do so at this stage.
“I don’t think the Strait of Hormuz is next. I think there would be quite a few steps on the escalation ladder first,” he added.
But Simone Tagliapietra, an energy expert at Brussels’ Bruegel think tank, warned that a growing confrontation with Iran could lead to tougher enforcement of sanctions on its oil exports. The West has turned a blind eye to Tehran’s increasing sales to China in the wake of the war in Ukraine, which has relieved some pressure on global energy markets.
A crackdown, he believes, “could see global oil prices rising substantially, pushing inflation higher and further complicating the efforts of central banks to bring it under control.”
However, Saudi Arabia and the UAE could help compensate for such a move by ramping up their own production — provided they’re willing to risk the ire of Iran.
Gabriel Gavin reported from Yerevan, Armenia. Antonia Zimmermann from Brussels and Jamie Dettmer from Tel-Aviv.
Laura Kayali contributed reporting from Paris.
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Gabriel Gavin, Antonia Zimmermann and Jamie Dettmer
The Houthis have argued that their attacks on ship linked to Israel are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
A group of countries led by the United States have warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels of “consequences” unless they stop their attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels.
“Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” said the statement released by the White House on Wednesday.
“The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways”.
The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan are among the 12 signatories.
The only country in the Middle East to sign the statement was Bahrain, which has a strained relationship with Iran, which is aligned with the Houthis.
The statement comes after several reports that US President Joe Biden’s administration is considering direct strikes on the rebels if the attacks continue.
The Houthis have said that their attacks in the busy waterway are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and that they are targeting ships with links to Israel.
The US has sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, to the area and earlier announced a coalition of countries to protect movement in the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes.
Shipping prices
Earlier on Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a previous attack on a merchant vessel in the Red Sea.
“The naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces carried out an operation targeting the ship CMA CGM TAGE which was travelling towards the ports of occupied Palestine,” the Houthis said on X.
The French operator CMA CGM said that its container ship was unharmed and suffered “no incident”.
A CMA CGM spokesperson said the ship was headed for Egypt.
The Houthi attacks in recent weeks have mainly been concentrated on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
On Tuesday, Danish shipping giant Maersk extended a suspension of services through the waterway and the Gulf of Aden, south Yemen, “until further notice”.
On October 7, Hamas fighters launched a bloody attack against Israel, using paragliders, speedboats and underground tunnels to carry out an offensive that killed almost 1,200 people and saw hundreds more taken back to the Gaza Strip as prisoners.
Almost three months on, Israel’s massive military retaliation is reverberating around the region, with explosions in Lebanon and rebels from Yemen attacking shipping in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Western countries are pumping military aid into Israel while deploying fleets to protect commercial shipping — risking confrontation with the Iranian navy.
That’s in line with a grim prediction made last year by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who said that Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza meant an “expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” and that further escalation across the Middle East should be expected.
What’s happening?
The Israel Defense Forces are still fighting fierce battles for control of the Gaza Strip in what officials say is a mission to destroy Hamas. Troops have already occupied much of the north of the 365-square-kilometer territory, home to around 2.3 million Palestinians, and are now stepping up their assault in the south.
Entire neighborhoods of densely-populated Gaza City have been levelled by intense Israeli shelling, rocket attacks and air strikes, rendering them uninhabitable. Although independent observers have been largely shut out, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry claims more than 22,300 people have been killed, while the U.N. says 1.9 million people have been displaced.
On a visit to the front lines, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that his country is in the fight for the long haul. “The feeling that we will stop soon is incorrect. Without a clear victory, we will not be able to live in the Middle East,” he said.
As the Gaza ground war intensifies, Hamas and its allies are increasingly looking to take the conflict to a far broader arena in order to put pressure on Israel.
According to Seth Frantzman, a regional analyst with the Jerusalem Post and adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “Iran is certainly making a play here in terms of trying to isolate Israel [and] the U.S. and weaken U.S. influence, also showing that Israel doesn’t have the deterrence capabilities that it may have had in the past or at least thought it had.”
Northern front
On Tuesday a blast ripped through an office in Dahieh, a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut — 130 kilometers from the border with Israel. Hamas confirmed that one of its most senior leaders, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in the strike.
Government officials in Jerusalem have refused to confirm Israeli forces were behind the killing, while simultaneously presenting it as a “surgical strike against the Hamas leadership” and insisting it was not an attack against Lebanon itself, despite a warning from Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati that the incident risked dragging his country into a wider regional war.
Tensions between Israel and Lebanon have spiked in recent weeks, with fighters loyal to Hezbollah, the Shia Islamist militant group that controls the south of the country, firing hundreds of rockets across the frontier. Along with Hamas, Hezbollah is part of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” that aims to destroy the state of Israel.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Iran’s foreign ministry said the death of al-Arouri, the most senior Hamas official confirmed to have died since October 7, will only embolden resistance against Israel, not only in the Palestinian territories but also in the wider Middle East.
The Israel Defense Forces are still fighting fierce battles for control of the Gaza Strip in what officials say is a mission to destroy Hamas | Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
“We’re talking about the death of a senior Hamas leader, not from Hezbollah or the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards. Is it Iran who’s going to respond? Hezbollah? Hamas with rockets? Or will there be no response, with the various players waiting for the next assassination?” asked Héloïse Fayet, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations.
In a much-anticipated speech on Wednesday evening, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the killing but did not announce a military response.
Red Sea boils over
For months now, sailors navigating the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb Strait that links Europe to Asia have faced a growing threat of drone strikes, missile attacks and even hijackings by Iran-backed Houthi militants operating off the coast of Yemen.
The Houthi movement, a Shia militant group supported by Iran in the Yemeni civil war against Saudi Arabia and its local allies, insists it is only targeting shipping with links to Israel in a bid to pressure it to end the war in Gaza. However, the busy trade route from the Suez Canal through the Red Sea has seen dozens of commercial vessels targeted or delayed, forcing Western nations to intervene.
Over the weekend, the U.S. Navy said it had intercepted two anti-ship missiles and sunk three boats carrying Houthi fighters in what it said was a hijacking attempt against the Maersk Hangzhou, a container ship. Danish shipping giant Maersk said Tuesday that it would “pause all transits through the Red Sea until further notice,” following a number of other cargo liners; energy giant BP is also suspending travel through the region.
On Wednesday the Houthis targeted a CMA CGM Tage container ship bound for Israel, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea. “Any U.S. attack will not pass without a response or punishment,” he added.
“The sensible decision is one that the vast majority of shippers I think are now coming to, [which] is to transit through round the Cape of Good Hope,” said Marco Forgione, director general at the Institute of Export & International Trade. “But that in itself is not without heavy impact, it’s up to two weeks additional sailing time, adds over £1 million to the journey, and there are risks, particularly in West Africa, of piracy as well.”
However, John Stawpert, a senior manager at the International Chamber of Shipping, noted that while “there has been disruption” and an “understandable nervousness about transiting these routes … trade is continuing to flow.”
“A major contributory factor to that has been the presence of military assets committed to defending shipping from these attacks,” he said.
The impacts of the disruption, especially price hikes hitting consumers, will be seen “in the next couple of weeks,” according to Forgione. Oil and gas markets also risk taking a hit — the price of benchmark Brent crude rose by 3 percent to $78.22 a barrel on Wednesday. Almost 10 percent of the world’s oil and 7 percent of its gas flows through the Red Sea.
Western response
On Wednesday evening, the U.S., Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom issued an ultimatum calling the Houthi attacks “illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilizing,” but with only vague threats of action.
“We call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews. The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the statement said.
The Houthi movement insists it is only targeting shipping with links to Israel in a bid to pressure it to end the war in Gaza | Houthi Movement via Getty Images
Despite the tepid language, the U.S. has already struck back at militants from Iranian-backed groups such as Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria after they carried out drone attacks that injured U.S. personnel.
The assumption in London is that airstrikes against the Houthis — if it came to that — would be U.S.-led with the U.K. as a partner. Other nations might also chip in.
Two French officials said Paris is not considering air strikes. The country’s position is to stick to self-defense, and that hasn’t changed, one of them said. French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that assessment, saying on Tuesday that “we’re continuing to act in self-defense.”
“Would France, which is so proud of its third way and its position as a balancing power, be prepared to join an American-British coalition?” asked Fayet, the think tank researcher.
Iran looms large
Iran’s efforts to leverage its proxies in a below-the-radar battle against both Israel and the West appear to be well underway, and the conflict has already scuppered a long-awaited security deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“Since 1979, Iran has been conducting asymmetrical proxy terrorism where they try to advance their foreign policy objectives while displacing the consequences, the counterpunches, onto someone else — usually Arabs,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of Washington’s Center on Military and Political Power. “An increasingly effective regional security architecture, of the kind the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are trying to build, is a nightmare for Iran which, like a bully on the playground, wants to keep all the other kids divided and distracted.”
Despite Iran’s fiery rhetoric, it has stopped short of declaring all-out war on its enemies or inflicting massive casualties on Western forces in the region — which experts say reflects the fact it would be outgunned in a conventional conflict.
“Neither Iran nor the U.S. nor Israel is ready for that big war,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Middle East Institute’s Iran program. “Israel is a nuclear state, Iran is a nuclear threshold state — and the U.S. speaks for itself on this front.”
Israel might be betting on a long fight in Gaza, but Iran is trying to make the conflict a global one, he added. “Nobody wants a war, so both sides have been gambling on the long term, hoping to kill the other guy through a thousand cuts.”
Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.
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Gabriel Gavin, Antonia Zimmermann and Laura Kayali
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israel on Saturday in retaliation for the targeted killing of a Hamas leader in Beirut this week amid mounting fears of a larger regional war, according to media reports.
Hezbollah said in a statement Saturday that it targeted an Israeli air surveillance base in northern Israel with 62 missiles as an “initial response” to the suspected Israeli strike on January 2 that killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. The Israeli military said around 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon at its territory.
Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, said earlier this week that the killing of al-Arouri will “not go unpunished.”
Israel’s military said it responded to the Hezbollah rocket attacks with a drone strike on “the terrorist cell responsible for the launches toward the area of Metula.”
The escalation comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has embarked on his fourth diplomatic tour of the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war reaches its three-month mark and amid growing international criticism of Israel’s strategy. Yemen’s Houthi militants have also increased their attacks on cargo ships and fuel tankers in the Red Sea.
Blinken met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday. U.S. officials said Blinken was seeking Turkish buy-in, or at least consideration, of potential monetary or in-kind contributions to reconstruction efforts and some form of participation in a proposed multi-national force that could operate in or adjacent to the territory, the Associated Press reported.
Turkey has been harshly critical of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the prosecution of the war and the impact it has had on Palestinian civilians.
In addition, officials said, Blinken will stress the importance Washington places on Ankara ratifying Sweden’s membership in NATO, a long-delayed process that the Turks have said they will complete soon. Sweden’s accession to the defense alliance is seen as one critical response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who was in Lebanon on Saturday, warned that it was imperative to avoid the Israel-Hamas war growing into a regional conflict.
Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, some of whom have been released.
Israel has for the last three months bombed the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, resulting in nearly 23,000 people dying and around 59,000 others being injured, according to the Palestinian enclave’s health authorities.
In another warning, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday that Gaza has become “uninhabitable” for its nearly 2.3 million inhabitants and repeated that “a public health disaster is unfolding” in the enclave.
BRITAIN may be gearing up to launch airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi group who have been wreaking havoc in the Red Sea.
After weeks of ambushes and attacks in waters off the coast of Yemen, the UK might be joining its allies and taking up arms against them.
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The Houthi rebels (pictured) are an Iran-backed group who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea
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HMS Diamond, a British missile destroyer which could be deployed to fight the Houthi
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The UK may even deploy RAF warplanes (pictured: RAF Typhoon jet, used at UK bases in Iraq and Syria)Credit: PA
In what could be an unprecedented move by Britain, tensions in the regions are likely to spiral further as the West looks to be fighting back.
A government source told The Times that the UK could unleash RAF warplanes or even Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond – a missile destroyer which took out an attack drone in the Red Sea just weeks ago.
Now the fresh and unprecedented response could be the first step in a much larger retaliation amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
The UK, under such plans, would join with America and potentially another European country to launch missile attacks against targets either in the Red Sea, or Yemen itself.
Both Britain and the US are expected to release a statement within hours warning the Houthis to stop their relentless attacks – or face the allied countries wrath.
The Westminster source described this statement as a “last warning” and said the response if attacks don’t stop would be “significant”.
They didn’t confirm which type of aircraft Britain could use – but RAF Typhoon jets are currently stationed at bases in Cyprus for missions in Iraq and Syria.
Apparently there to monitor any leftover threat from terror group ISIS, The Times previously reported that they are now being used to spy on Iran-backed terror proxies in Lebanon.
And Defence Secretary Grant Shapps later issued a formidable warning to the Iran-backed rebels.
He said: “Those terrorists who are disrupting trade in the Red Sea are drinking in the last chance saloon.
“Attacks on commercial shipping with drones and missiles is an attack on all of us and the culture and freedoms we cherish.
“There is no justification for targeting civilian shipping in this way. We need an immediate end to these illegal attacks.
“If the Houthis continue to threaten lives and trade, we will be forced to take the necessary and appropriate action.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The situation in the Red Sea is incredibly serious, and the Houthi attacks are unacceptable and destabilising.
“As you would expect, while planning is underway for a range of scenarios, no decisions have yet been made and we continue to pursue all diplomatic routes.
“We call for the Iranian-backed Houthi to cease these illegal attacks and we are working with allies and partners to protect freedom of navigation.”
Major shipping firms such as BP and Maersk are also diverting vessels away from the Red Sea amid concerns the crisis will drive up the price of goods and inflation.
Since Operation Prosperity Guardian was announced just over 10 days ago, 1,200 merchant ships have traveled through the Red Sea region, and none had been hit by drone or missile strikes, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said in an Associated Press interview, although the U.S. military said that one ship reported being struck by a missile late Saturday.
Cooper said earlier that day that additional countries are expected to sign on to the mission. Denmark was the latest, announcing Friday it plans to send a frigate to the mission that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced during a visit to Bahrain, where the Navy’s 5th Fleet is based, saying that “this is an international challenge that demands collective action.”
The narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and then the Suez Canal. The crucial trade route links markets in Asia and Europe. The seriousness of the attacks, several of which have damaged vessels, led multiple shipping companies to order their vessels to hold in place and not enter the strait until the security situation improved. Some major shippers were sending their ships around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, adding time and costs to the journeys.
Currently there are five warships from the United States, France, and the United Kingdom patrolling the waters of the southern Red Sea and the western Gulf of Aden, said Cooper, who heads the 5th Fleet. Since the operation started, the ships have shot down a total of 17 drones and four anti-ship ballistic missiles, he said.
The U.S. military said Saturday it shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired toward a Maersk container ship in the Red Sea after the ship reported it had been hit by a missile. Two Navy destroyers responded to the call for help, and the Denmark-owned vessel was reportedly seaworthy and no injuries were noted, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. Hours later, four Houthi boats fired at the same ship and tried to board, Central Command said. U.S. forces on two helicopters responded to the distress call and were also fired upon before they sank three of the Houthi vessels and killed the crews, Central Command said. The fourth boat fled the area. No damage to U.S. personnel or equipment was reported.
There have been about two dozen attacks on international shipping by the Houthis since Oct. 19.
Austin discussed the situation with the Dutch defense minister, Kajsa Ollongren, and they condemned the attacks as unacceptable and “profoundly destabilizing” to international order and global commerce, the Pentagon said Saturday.
The U.S. has said that more than 20 nations are participating in the security mission, but a number of those nations have not acknowledged it publicly.
“I expect in the coming weeks we’re going to get additional countries,” Cooper said, noting Denmark’s recent announcement.
Cooper said the coalition is in direct communication with commercial ships to provide guidance on “maneuvering and the best practices to avoid being attacked,” and working closely with the shipping industry to coordinate security.
An international task force had been set up in April 2022 to improve maritime security in the region. But Cooper said Operation Prosperity Guardian has more ships and a persistent presence to assist vessels.
Since the operation started, the Houthis have stepped up their use of anti-ship ballistic missiles, Cooper said. “We are cleareyed that the Houthi reckless attacks will likely continue,” he said.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, launching a grinding war against a Saudi-led coalition that sought to restore the government. The militants have sporadically targeted ships in the region, but the attacks increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Houthi threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel. That has escalated to apparently any vessel, with container ships and oil tankers flagged to countries such as Norway and Liberia being attacked or drawing missile fire.
The shipping company Maersk had announced earlier that it had decided to re-route its ships that have been paused for days outside the strait and Red Sea, and send them around Africa instead. Maersk announced Dec. 25 that it was going to resume sending ships through the strait, citing the operation. Cooper said another shipping company had also resumed using the route.
“Commerce is definitely flowing,” Cooper said.
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Navy helicopters fired on Iran-backed Houthi gunmen attempting to hijack a cargo ship.
The helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews.
The small boats originated from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, said US Central Command.
The conflict in the Red Sea escalated on Sunday when US Navy helicopters fired on and destroyed the boats of Iranian-backed Houthi gunmen attempting to board a cargo ship.
The small boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, attempted to board the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-registered, Danish-owned cargo ship, said US Central Command (Centcom).
Iranian-backed Houthi small boats attack merchant vessel and U.S. Navy helicopters in Southern Red Sea
On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed… pic.twitter.com/pj8NAzjbVF
The container ship was also struck by a missile while transiting the Southern Red Sea, it said. The vessel was reported as seaworthy and there was no injury to crew.
Maersk has paused sailings through the Red Sea for 48 hours in response to the attempted attack.
Yemen’s Houthi loyalists lift their weapons as they take part in an armed parade for more than 20,000 members who have finished a military course, staged to show their willingness to battle any potential attack by the recently created coalition by the U.S., on December 20, 2023 in Amran province, Yemen.Mohammed Hamoud
For weeks now, the Iran-backed Yemen rebel group has been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea with drones and ballistic missiles in protest of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthi assaults on vital shipping lanes have prompted the US to launch Operation Prosperity Guardian — an international Naval coalition aimed at safeguarding shipping in the region.
The Houthis have continued with their attacks despite the US’ response. US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper stated that, since the operation’s launch, 1,200 commercial ships have passed through the Red Sea without incident until Saturday’s missile strike, per the BBC.
A U.S. destroyer patrolling in the Red Sea Saturday shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen while it was responding to a report that a commercial vessel was itself struck by a missile, U.S. authorities said.
According to U.S. Central Command, the container ship Maersk Hangzhou — which is Danish-owned but sails under a Singaporean flag — reported at 8:30 p.m. local time that it had been struck by a missile in the Southern Red Sea.
No one was hurt and the ship remained seaworthy, CENTCOM reported in a social media post.
However, while responding to assist the Maersk Hangzhou, the USS Gravely shot down two anti-ship missiles which had been fired from Yemen, CENTCOM said. The missiles appeared to have been directed at the USS Gravely and the USS Laboon, which was also responding to the Maersk Hangzhou, CENTCOM said.
The Iranian-backed Houthi militant group — which controls large portions of Yemen — has been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, slaughtering at least 1,200 people and sparking the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The USS Gravely patrols the Red Sea. December 2023.
U.S. Central Command
According to CENTCOM, Saturday’s incident was the 23rd such attack by the Houthis on international shipping vessels since Nov. 19.
Earlier this month, CENTCOM reported that the USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer, shot down 14 attack drones suspected to have been fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen.
The White House last week accused Tehran of being “deeply involved” in the spate of Red Sea attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial vessels, an allegation which Iran’s deputy foreign minister denied.
The Pentagon reported that on Dec. 23, a chemical tanker off the coast of India was struck by a drone which had been fired from Iran. That ship sailed under a Liberian flag and was Dutch-operated. No one was wounded.
And in a Nov. 15 interview with CBS News, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also denied that Iran was responsible for a drone fired from Yemen that was shot down by the guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner. The drone appeared to be targeting the Hudner, U.S. officials said at the time.
“We really didn’t want this crisis to expand,” Amir-Abdollahian told CBS News, referencing the Israel-Hamas war. “But the U.S. has been intensifying the war in Gaza by throwing its support behind Israel. Yemen makes its own decisions and acts independently.”
Home furnishing giant Ikea also said that it could soon face shortages because major shippers were being forced to bypass the Red Sea, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and marks the shortest trade route between Europe and Asia, according to the Freights Baltic Index.
— Elizabeth Napolitano contributed to this report.
Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
An American destroyer intercepted four drones fired by Houthi militants into the busy shipping lanes of the Red Sea, as the escalating crisis saw two commercial tankers hit in one chaotic day.
In a statement issued Sunday, U.S. Central Command said its navy had “shot down four unmanned aerial drones originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen that were inbound to the USS Laboon” the day before. The American destroyer had been patrolling the area as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, the Washington-led mission to prevent violence spilling over into the strategic waterway.
On Saturday, the Pentagon announced that a Japanese-owned, Liberian-flagged chemical tanker, the Chem Pluto, had been struck by a drone in the Indian Ocean, stating that the attack was launched from Iran.
According to data from analytics platform Kpler, seen by POLITICO, the Chem Pluto had been carrying almost 43,000 barrels of highly-flammable benzene en route to the port of Mangaluru at the time, but no casualties have been reported. The attack was well outside the usual area of operation for Houthi drones, around 300 nautical miles from the coast of India and it is believed to be the first time the U.S. has accused Iran directly of targeting commercial shipping since the crisis began.
Washington has previously said intelligence revealed Iran was “deeply involved” in planning attacks on vessels, working closely with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to cause a crisis that experts fear is already threatening the world economy. Houthi forces say they are targeting vessels with links to Israel in retaliation for its war in Gaza.
On Saturday evening, two civilian ships in the Red Sea area sounded the alarm that they were under attack. The Blaamanen, a Norwegian-flagged vessel carrying a quarter of a million tons of sunflower oil, reported it had narrowly avoided an attack drone, while Indian-flagged crude oil tanker Saibaba confirmed it had taken a direct hit.
Close to the Suez Canal which links Europe to Asia, more than 10 percent of global trade passes through the Red Sea, with around 17,000 ships a year crossing between the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea.
In his first interview since being appointed as U.K. foreign secretary, former British prime minister David Cameron, told The Telegraph on Friday that the West must send “an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated” to Tehran. Along with France, Italy and Spain, the U.K. is one of a handful of countries joining forces with the U.S. as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian.
The U.S. Navy destroyed three boats carrying Houthi rebels in the Red Sea on Sunday after fighters attempted to board a container ship in the second attack against the vessel this weekend.
Helicopters from two destroyers, the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely, were dispatched after the Maersk Hangzhou issued a distress call at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X, the ship’s second request for help in 24 hours.
Four small boats arriving from Yemen had got to within 20 meters of the Danish-owned vessel and attempted to board it, according to CENTCOM, and fired on U.S. helicopters as they approached. “The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews,” it said, adding that there was “no damage to U.S. personnel or equipment.”
On Saturday, Washington said it had shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles after the Maersk Hangzhou issued its first distress call and reported being struck by a Houthi missile.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organization said there were no casualties in the shipping vessel’s crew.
Maersk said on Sunday that it has paused all sailing through the Red Sea for 48 hours.
Since November, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have launched over 20 attacks against ships in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping lane between Europe and Asia where an estimated 15 percent of global trade passes. Several shipping lines and oil major BP have suspended operations in the area as a result.
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he spoke with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on Sunday and stressed Tehran’s responsibility regarding the Houthi rebels.
“I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks given their long-standing support to the Houthis,” Cameron said in a statement. The Houthi attacks in the Red Sea “threaten innocent lives and the global economy,” he added.
The Houthis have said the strikes are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is carrying out large-scale bombardments with U.S. backing in response to Hamas militants’ deadly attack against civilians in early October. In response, the U.S. set up a multinational naval taskforce to protect the route, which has been joined by countries including Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands and the U.K.
Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released on Nov. 20, 2023.
Houthi Military Media | Via Reuters
Drone and missile attacks by Yemen-based Houthi militants have upended shipping through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, a narrow waterway through which some 10% of the world’s trade sails.
U.S. Central Command over the weekend said it shot down “14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.” A day later, oil major BP announced it would “temporarily pause” all transits through the Red Sea, following similar decisions by shipping giants Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, and CMA CGM.
The Pentagon said Monday it was forming a maritime security coalition with allies to counter the threat and provide protection for shippers, who as of Tuesday had diverted more than $30 billion worth of cargo away from the Red Sea.
Many tankers and cargo ships that would normally transit via the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean are instead being rerouted around the continent of Africa, which adds 14 to 15 days on average to sea voyages. International logistics firm DHL warned that “the diversion will significantly increase transit times between Asia and Europe and require shipping lines to increase planned capacity.”
The changes have already spiked insurance premiums on ships and contributed to a bump in oil prices. And U.S. military might in the area may not be enough to quell the disruptions.
“A dedicated naval task force will be able to more effectively intercept drone and missile attacks and prevent boarding operations, but the task force won’t be able to be everywhere all at once,” Ryan Bohl,senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at Rane, told CNBC.
“So long as there are significant numbers of civilian ships moving through this area, the Houthis will have plenty of targets to choose from.”
But who are the militants attacking the ships, and why are they doing it? And will a U.S.-led naval security coalition be effective enough to make the Red Sea trade routes safe for trade again?
The Houthis are a Shiite sect of Islam called Zaydi Muslims, a minority in mostly-Sunni Yemen whose roots there go back hundreds of years. They emerged as a political and militant organization in the 1990s, opposing the Yemeni government over issues like corruption, U.S. influence and perceived mistreatment of their group.
After carrying out insurgencies against the state from the early 2000s onward, the Houthis capitalized on the instability that followed the 2011 Arab Spring to increase their following. In 2003, influenced by the Lebanese Shiite militant organization Hezbollah, they adopted the official slogan: “God is the greatest, death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews, victory to Islam.”
Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen’s war, in Sanaa, Yemen March 26, 2019.
Khaled Abdullah | Reuters
In 2014, Houthi rebels took over the capital Sanaa, setting off a war with the Saudi and Western-backed Yemeni government. A Saudi-led Arab coalition in 2015 launched an offensive against Yemen which went on to create what the U.N. called one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
The war continues to this day with limited cease-fires, and the Houthis have launched hundreds of drone and projectile attacks on Saudi Arabia since it began, with many of the weapons allegedly provided by Iran.
The Houthis now control most of Yemen, including Sanaa and the important Red Sea port of Hodeida, and their ranks have massively expanded along with their military capabilities, aided significantly by Iran.
Some call the group an Iranian proxy, but many Yemen experts say it is not a direct proxy of the Islamic Republic. Rather, the two have a mutually beneficial relationship but the Houthis pursue their own interests, which often align with Iran’s, and they enjoy Tehran’s military and financial support.
Yemen’s Houthis have made clear their intention of targeting Israeli ships and any ships headed to or from Israel, in retaliation for the country’s war in Gaza that has so far killed more than 20,000 people there and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel launched its offensive on Oct. 7, after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a brutal terrorist attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel’s south and took another 240 hostage.
Mock drones and missiles are displayed at a square on December 07, 2023 in Sana’a, Yemen.
Mohammed Hamoud | Getty Images
So far, the Houthis have deployed direct-attack drones, anti-ship missiles, and even physically seized a merchant ship via helicopter landing. And they don’t plan on stopping.
Mohammed al-Bukaiti, asenior Houthi political official, said during a news conference Tuesday: “Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our military operations will not stop unless the genocide crimes in Gaza stop and allow food, medicine, and fuel to enter its besieged population, no matter the sacrifices it costs us.”
The U.S.-led naval coalition, which is still being formed, “is collectively capable of deploying a considerable maritime force in the Red Sea,” said Sidharth Kaushal, sea power research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. Other members of themultinational initiative include the U.K., Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain.
“As we have seen with the USS Carney’s recent activity in the region, modern vessels can provide considerable protection to both themselves and other ships in a theatre against air and missile threats,” Kaushal said, referencing the American guided-missile destroyer that shot down 14 drones on Saturday.
The Galaxy Leader, recently seized by Yemen, shown in close-up satellite imagery near Hodeida, Yemen.
Maxar | Getty Images
But the challenge remains, Kaushal said, because of the “relatively low cost of the drones and missiles” targeting shipping and the fact that naval ships still have to return to friendly ports to reload their air defense interceptors.
Another major risk is the threat of escalation. The most effective way to take out the Houthi threat is to attack their launch sites — which “would not automatically result in a regional conflagration, but could raise the risks of one,” Kaushal said, adding that “I don’t think that either the Houthis and Iran or the U.S. wants a wider escalation at this point in time.”
Corey Ranslem, CEO of maritime security firm Dryad Global, expects the threat to shipping “to continue for the foreseeable future as long as the conflict continues in Gaza,” he told CNBC.
“Depending on how the U.S.-led coalition comes together, we could also see the threat level against commercial shipping decline if their efforts are effective,” he said.
Ranslem predicts minimal economic impact in the short term. But each year there are “approximately 35,000 vessel movements … primarily trading between Europe, the Middle East and Asia” in the Red Sea region, accounting for roughly 10% of global GDP, he said.
That means that if the threats continue, countries in those regions could see significant economic impacts. Israel’s economy could be seriously affected as well if more shipping companies decline to take on cargo destined there; two companies have already done just that.
“For the Houthis, the challenge will be to present enough of a threat to deter shipping companies from passing through the Bab al-Mandab while avoiding actions that could trigger an overwhelming military response from the U.S.-led coalition,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt,principal MENA analyst at Verisk Maplecroft.
“The Houthis don’t need to physically prevent ships from passing through the Red Sea; they only need to cause enough disruption to make maritime insurance premiums prohibitive or compel most shipping liners to suspend activities there.”
Sanaa, Yemen — When Israel’s war on Gaza broke out on October 7, Saleh Abdullah, a 48-year-old supermarket owner in Sanaa, joined pro-Palestine mass protests, expressing his solidarity with the besieged enclave. It never crossed his mind that the Houthi armed group that controls Yemen’s capital and large parts of the country would intervene militarily.
On October 19, a United States warship intercepted drones and missiles fired from Yemen as they were heading to Israel. Later, the Houthi group, which has been the de facto authority in north Yemen since 2015, claimed responsibility for firing ballistic missiles at Israel, announcing to launch more.
Abdullah celebrated. “When the Houthis declared sending missiles and drones towards Israel, the news lifted our morale and brought a sense of euphoria,” he said.
But that sentiment was short-lived, as Abdullah began to ponder over the repercussions of the escalation when his country is awash with multiple crises, including political instability, military rivalry and an unhealthy economy, and diplomatic talks to conclusively end years of fighting have remained inconclusive.
Now, a spate of attacks by the Houthis on ships transiting through the Red Sea — which the Yemeni group argues are aimed at pressuring Israel to end the war on Gaza that has killed almost 20,000 people — has triggered a backlash from the West.
On Monday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a multinational maritime task force involving 10 navies aimed at securing the Red Sea from what he described as a “reckless” escalation by the Houthis.
It is precisely the kind of response that Abdullah has been fearing. “The Yemeni attacks on Israel or American forces will invite their response, and their response will put Yemen in a state of war. This is what lots of Yemenis and I do not want to see. We are fed up with conflicts and do not want atrocities to erupt anew,” he said.
Worry about war return
It has been nine years since Yemen slid into a civil war, sparking a catastrophic humanitarian situation with thousands killed and millions displaced. Since last year, efforts by the United Nations and regional players have helped silence weapons in Yemen, and civilians hope that that will continue, even as talks over a long-term ceasefire remain in limbo.
Yet in recent weeks, the war in Gaza has cast a shadow on those hopes. Multiple Houthi attacks on vessels traversing the Red Sea, a key maritime trade artery passing through a region that is the world’s biggest oil-supplier, have threatened to drag Yemen into a new war.
On Friday, some of the world’s biggest shipping companies announced that their vessels would stop transiting through the Red Sea amid the missile attacks, a move that threatens to send oil prices up, in turn hurting the global economy. The very next day, the navies of the United Kingdom and the US intercepted 15 attack drones fired from Houthi-controlled territories. Two other ships were attacked on Sunday.
‘Zero impact’
The Houthi missiles and drones have been a cause of concern for Israel over the past few weeks. However, the public in Yemen has conflicting views regarding the impact of such attacks.
Leila Salem, a 28-year-old university student in Sanaa, said the Houthi missiles and drones cannot be enough to stop the Israeli army from continuing its war on Gaza. She told Al Jazeera, “Firing drones and missiles from Yemen towards Israel is like hitting an angry elephant with a small stick. Such attacks can have a zero impact on the Israeli army.”
Instead, Salem worries, the consequences will be felt more by the Yemeni people, many of whom commend the Houthis for sending drones and firing missiles on Israeli and Western-linked vessels in the Red Sea.
“The previous US administration classified the Houthis as a foreign terrorist group. The ongoing Houthi attacks on shipping lanes and the American forces in the region may pave the way for blacklisting the group,” she said.
If the group is redesignated as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, the Houthis will survive, she said. “The group will not be weakened or eliminated overnight, and only civilians will bear the brunt.”
Ali al-Dhahab, a Yemeni political and military analyst, said the international maritime coalition coming together in the Red Sea will not stand idly by if it detects missiles or unmanned aircraft launched from Houthi-controlled areas. “The coalition will respond to the sources of fire,” he said. Any armed clash between the Houthis and international forces would impede the peace process in Yemen, he cautioned.
Persistent Houthi defiance
While civilians in Yemen display worry about the fallout of the Houthi involvement in Israel’s war on Gaza, the Iran-backed group’s leadership and fighters remain defiant.
Mohammed Nasser, a 28-year-old Houthi fighter on the front line in the city of Marib, told Al Jazeera that if their drones and missiles cannot reach Israel, they can still easily hit targets in the Red Sea, especially Israeli and US ships.
“We are prepared for all scenarios and capable of hitting targets in the Red Sea. No country can stop us from supporting Gaza,” Nasser told Al Jazeera.
On December 15, Houthi spokesperson Yahia Sarea said the group attacked two ships, MSC Alanya and MSC PALATIUM III in the Red Sea. He added, “The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in [the Red Sea] until they bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need.”
Houthi gains
To be sure, the Houthi intervention in the war on Gaza has some popular support too. A Sanaa-based political researcher, who requested anonymity, told Al Jazeera that the Houthi group had won the hearts of countless people in Yemen through its attacks in support of Gaza.
“By firing missiles at Israel or Israeli targets in the Red Sea, the Houthi group earns popular support in Yemen, and this is a considerable gain. The public support helps them consolidate their authority, which ensued from their 2015 coup against the Yemeni government,” he said.
However, he too acknowledged that these “gains” for the Houthis could mean losses for Yemen, which could face new “humanitarian and economic troubles”.
And prospects of peace could suffer. “The Houthi arrogance will rise, which may obstruct an agreement on ending the civil war with their local opponents,” he said.
An American destroyer on Saturday shot down more than a dozen drones in the Red Sea launched from Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the U.S. Central Command said.
“The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS CARNEY… operating in the Red Sea, successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” CENTCOM said social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The aerial vehicles were “assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries,” according to the statement.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels have launched a series of drone and missile strikes targeting Israel since Hamas militants poured over the border into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures. Around 240 people were kidnapped in the attacks.
Vowing to destroy Hamas and bring back the hostages, Israel launched a massive military offensive that the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry says has killed at least 18,800 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from the Hamas government in Gaza.
The Huthi rebels have threatened to attack any vessels heading to Israeli ports unless food and medicine are allowed into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Mediterranean Shipping Company announced in a news release on Saturday that their ships “will not transit the Suez Canal Eastbound and Westbound,” after a container ship transiting the Red Sea on Friday was attacked. After suffering limited fire damage, the container ship was taken out of service.
MSC said their shipping services will be rerouted to go through the Cape of Good Hope.
The latest attacks mark a significant escalation in the threat to shipping in the area.
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RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has asked the United States to show restraint in responding to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against ships in the Red Sea, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said, as Riyadh seeks to contain spillover from the Hamas-Israel war.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the conflict that has spread around the Middle East since war erupted on Oct. 7, attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself.
The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip – more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in Sanaa.
The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” which have been attacking Israeli and U.S. targets since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, when their Palestinian ally Hamas sparked the war by attacking Israel.
Their role has added to the conflict’s regional risks, threatening sea lanes through which much of the world’s oil shipped, and worrying states on the Red Sea as Houthi rockets and drones fly towards Israel.
Riyadh, the world’s top oil exporter, has watched with alarm as Houthi missiles have been fired over its territory.
With the Houthis stepping up attacks on shipping over the past weeks, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said Riyadh’s message of restraint to Washington aimed to avoid further escalation. Riyadh was so far pleased with the way the United States was handling the situation, the sources added.
“They pressed the Americans about this and why the Gaza conflict should stop,” one of the sources said.
The White House declined to comment.
The Saudi government did not respond to an emailed request for a comment on the discussions.
As Saudi Arabia presses for a ceasefire to halt what it has called a “barbaric war” in Gaza, its diplomacy reflects a wider policy aimed at promoting regional stability after years of confrontation with Iran and its allies.
Focused on expanding and diversifying the Saudi economy, Riyadh this year normalised ties with Tehran and is seeking to exit the war it has been waging with the Houthis in Yemen for nearly nine years.
The sources said Saudi Arabia was seeking to advance the Yemen peace process even as war rages in Gaza, worrying it could be derailed. Yemen has enjoyed more than a year of relative calm amid direct peace talks between Saudi and Houthi officials.
The Houthi attacks during the Hamas-Israel war have elevated their profile in the Iran-aligned camp which also includes Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.
The Houthis have emerged as a major military force in the Arabian Peninsula, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and armed drones.
Senior sources in the Iran-aligned camp told Reuters the Houthi attacks were part of an effort to put pressure on Washington to get Israel to halt the Gaza offensive, a goal that Iran shares with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.
One of the sources, who is based in Tehran, said Houthi representatives had discussed their attacks with Iranian officials during a meeting in Tehran in November, agreeing to carry out actions in a “controlled” way that would help force an end to the Gaza war. The source was briefed on the matter.
Another of the sources said Tehran did not seek “all-out war in the region” that would risk drawing it in directly.
A Houthi spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Iran has denied being involved in the attacks. Iranian officials did not respond to a request for comment on the Houthi attacks.
DESTROYER DOWNS DRONES
The United States and Britain have condemned the attacks on shipping, blaming Iran for its role in supporting the Houthis. Tehran says its allies make their decisions independently.
In one of the latest incidents, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters on Sunday. The Houthis said they had fired at what they said were two Israeli vessels. Israel denied any link to the ships.
A U.S. Navy destroyer, the Carney, shot down three drones as it answered distress calls from the vessels, which the U.S. military said were connected to 14 separate nations.
The Pentagon said on Monday the Carney had taken action as a drone was headed in its direction, but that it could not assess if the warship was the intended target.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh stopped short of using language that could suggest any imminent U.S. retaliation against the Houthis. Asked if the United States might retaliate, Singh said: “If we decide to take action against the Houthis, it will of course be at a time and place of our choosing.”
An Iranian diplomat said Tehran and Washington had exchanged messages through intermediaries about Houthi attacks since the start of the Hamas-Israel war. The diplomat, who was involved in exchanging the messages, said both called for restraint.
Iran on Tuesday denied any role in attacks or actions against U.S. forces.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alison Williams)
UN agency pauses general food distribution in north Yemen due to limited funding and disagreements with the group.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says it is suspending food distribution in Houthi-controlled areas of northern Yemen due to a dip in funding and disagreements with the group over how to focus on the poorest there.
The WFP announced the decision on Tuesday, saying it came after consultations with donors and more than a year of negotiations which failed to come to an agreement on reducing the number of people in need of aid to 6.5 million from 9.5 million.
The poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula has faced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises since the outbreak of the Yemen war between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who seized the capital Sanaa and large swaths of territory in 2014.
Yemenis present documents to receive food rations by a local charity in Sanaa [File: Hani Mohammed/AP]
Food stocks in Houthi-controlled areas “are now almost completely depleted and resuming food assistance, even with an immediate agreement, could take up to as long as four months due to the disruption of the supply chain”, the United Nations agency said in a statement.
It said the WFP would nonetheless maintain “its resilience and livelihoods, nutrition, and school feeding programmes … for as long as the agency has sufficient funding and the cooperation of the authorities” in Sanaa.
Food distribution in government-controlled areas of Yemen will continue, targeting “the most vulnerable families, aligning with resource adjustments announced last August,” the statement said.
Houthi officials did not issue an immediate comment on the agency’s decision.
Since 2014, the war in the country of 30 million people has led directly or indirectly to hundreds of thousands of deaths and has displaced millions.
A fragile calm has prevailed since a UN-negotiated ceasefire in April 2022, but the population suffers from reduced humanitarian aid, upon which it depends heavily.
Last year, the WFP reduced rations in the country due to depleted funding caused by global inflation, which rose after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A US Navy destroyer and several commercial ships came under attack in the Red Sea on Sunday, according to the Pentagon.
“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney … and will provide information as it becomes available,” in a statement released by the US Department of Defense. The military ship is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that can provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities, including guided missile strikes.
The Yemen’s Houthi rebels later claimed attacks on two ships they described as being linked to Israel, Unity Explorer and Number Nine, with a drone and missile but did not acknowledge targeting a US Navy vessel.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters told the Associated Press that the attack began about 10 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and had gone on for as much as five hours. Another official who similarly spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason said the Carney had intercepted at least one drone during the attack.
The strikes were in response to the demands of the Yemeni people and calls from Islamic nations to stand with the Palestinian people, according to a spokesperson for the rebels in a broadcast message.
An Israeli military spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request from AP for comment.
The reported incident follows a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) sets sail in the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, July 14, 2019.
Yoruk Isik | Reuters
A U.S. naval ship shot down several Houthi drones after commercial vessels were attacked in the Red Sea, the Pentagon reported on Sunday, the same day Yemen’s Houthi rebel group said it had targeted two Israeli ships there.
“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Later in the day, a National Security Council official said that preliminary assessments of the situation show that only the commercial ships, not the Carney, were targeted.
The attacks on took place over several hours and are believed to have come from Houthi missiles, according to defense officials, which would represent an escalation of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The Carney, a U.S. naval destroyer,observed a ballistic missile fired at a civilian commercial ship named the “Unity Explorer” and then responded to distress reports from the vessel. As it assisted the Unity Explorer, the Carney destroyed another Houthi drone headed towards itself and the Unity Explorer.
The Iran-backed Houthi group said in a statement on Sunday it had launched missile and drone attacks against two ships it believed were connected to Israel in the Red Sea’s Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, also known as the Gate of Tears.
The Houthi statement didn’t mention any attacks on U.S. ships, only the “Unity Explorer” and the “Number Nine,” both of which the group said are associated with Israel.
“The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red and Arab Seas until the Israeli aggression against our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip stops,” the Houthis said.
Yemen’s military has previously warned that all Israeli ships or any entities connected to Israel will be a “legitimate target” for attack until the war in Gaza end. In November, the group said it had captured an Israeli ship.
