Houthis vow response after second night of US strikes on Yemen

WASHINGTON/ADEN - The Houthi movement threatened a “strong and effective response” after the United States carried out a second night of strikes on Yemen on Jan 13, further ratcheting up tensions as Washington vows to protect shipping from attacks by the group.

The strikes have added to concerns about the escalation of the conflict that has spread through the region since the war in Gaza broke out last October.

The latest strike, which the US said targeted a radar site, came a day after dozens of

American and British strikes on the group’s facilities

. The US conducted the latest operation on its own.

“This new strike will have a firm, strong and effective response,” Mr Nasruldeen Amer, a Houthi spokesman, told Al Jazeera, adding that there had been no injuries nor “material damage”.

Mr Mohammad Abdulsalam, another Houthi spokesman, told Reuters that the strikes, including the one overnight that hit a military base in Sanaa, had no significant impact on their capabilities to continue preventing Israel-affiliated vessels from passing through the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

The Pentagon said on Jan 12 the US-British strikes had “good effects”.

The Houthis have cast their maritime campaign as support for Palestinians under siege by Israel in Hamas-ruled Gaza. They said

they are targeting all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality

. In December, the Houthis warned all international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.

Many of the vessels they have targeted had no known connection to Israel. The group, which controls Sanaa and much of the west and north of Yemen, has also fired drones and missiles up the Red Sea at Israel itself.

The guided missile destroyer Carney used Tomahawk missiles in the follow-on US strike early on Jan 13 (local time) “to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels”, the US Central Command said in a statement on social media platform X.

Even as Houthi leaders swore retaliation, US President Joe Biden had warned on Jan 12 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 behaviour,” Mr Biden told reporters.

White House spokesman John Kirby said the initial 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. He said the US had no interest in a war with Yemen.

The Houthis said five fighters were killed in the initial strikes on Jan 12.

Drone footage on the Houthis’ Al-Masirah television showed hundreds of thousands of people in Sanaa chanting slogans denouncing Israel and the US.

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

Spillover

The Red Sea crisis has added to the spread of the conflict through the Middle East since Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on Oct 7,

killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage.

Israel has responded by laying waste to large parts of Gaza in an effort to destroy Hamas. The Israeli operation has killed over 23,800, according to the Palestinians.

At the United Nations Security Council,

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield defended the Yemen strikes

, saying they were intended “to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ ability to continue the reckless attacks against vessels and commercial shipping”.

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

Yemen emerged only recently from nearly a decade of war that brought millions of people to the brink of famine. Fearing an extended new conflict, many people queued at petrol stations and stocked up on food supplies.

Oil price jumps

The price of Brent crude oil rose more than US$2 on Jan 12 on concern that supplies could be disrupted, but later gave up half of its gain.

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.

The US and some allies sent a naval task force in December, and recent days saw increasing escalation. On Jan 9, the US and Britain shot down 21 missiles and drones.

Not all major US 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 US official accused Teheran 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 it 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 soared this week. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG