In the night, United States e United Kingdom they carried out air strikes against the ribelli Houthi in Yemen, who have been intensifying attacks on ships for weeks in Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza, a territory devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas.
In a joint statement, Washington, London and eight of their allies – including Australia, Canada and Bahrain – stressed that the operation, conducted in a context of high regional tension, was aimed at “de-escalation” and to the “restoration of stability in the Red Sea”.
The operation was conducted “successfully” in “direct response to the unprecedented Houthi attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea,” the US president said Joe Biden, referring to a “defensive” action to protect international trade in particular. Words that are also confirmed by NATO: “These attacks were defensive and aimed at preserving freedom of navigation in one of the most important maritime routes in the world“, he declared Dylan White, spokesperson for the Alliance. “The Houthi attacks must stop,” he added.
“Despite repeated warnings from the international community, the Houthis have continued to carry out attacks (…) We have therefore taken limited, necessary and proportionate self-defence measures,” said the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Several US media reported that fighter jets and missiles were used in the Anglo-American operation Tomahawkwhile London said it had deployed four fighters Typhoon FGR4 to hit i sites of Bani and Abbs, from which the Houthis “launch” drones, with laser-guided bombs. According to the Houthi military spokesperson, the attacks targeted military sites in the capital Sanaa and in the governorates of Hodeidah, Taiz, Hajjah and Saada: five people were killed and six wounded among the rebels, counting “73 incursions” by the “American enemy -British”.
The events before the attack
Shortly after the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, Houthi rebels – members of the “axis of resistance,” a group of anti-Israel movements founded byIranwhich also includes Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah – have stepped up missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea, forcing many shipowners to bypass the area, experiencing higher costs and longer transport times between Europe and Asia.
Since November 19, according to the US military, the Houthis – who control much of Yemen – have carried out 27 attacks with missiles and drones near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa. They claim to be targeting Israel-linked commercial vessels, in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
By December, the United States had already deployed warships and created a international coalition to protect maritime traffic in the area, which handles 12% of world trade. Last January 9, 18 drones and three Houthi missiles were shot down by three American destroyers, a British ship and fighter planes deployed from the American aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, touring the Middle East this week, had already issued a warning to the Houthis and the UN Security Council had called for an “immediate” halt to their attacks. But the Houthis fired another anti-ship missile on Thursday, prompting Washington and London to respond. The President of the United States warned that he “will not hesitate” to “order further action” if necessary. “These targeted attacks send a clear message: the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our troops and will not allow hostile actors to endanger freedom of navigation,” he added Biden.
“Our country is facing a massive attack by American and British ships, submarines and planes,” the deputy reacted Houthi Foreign Minister Hussein Al-Ezzi, quoted by the movement’s media. “The United States and the United Kingdom must be prepared to pay a high price and bear the heavy consequences of this aggression,” he threatened.
US-British attacks against Houthi rebels in Yemen will have “repercussions on regional security”, the Palestinian Islamist movement has also said Hamas in a statement published on his Telegram channel. “We strongly condemn the blatant US-British aggression in Yemen. We hold them responsible for the repercussions on regional security,” she added.
International reactions
The reaction was immediateIran which condemned the American and British airstrikes, calling them an “arbitrary action” and a “flagrant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty”. The condemnation also came fromOman and the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who described the American and British response as “disproportionate”. For her part, theSaudi Arabia instead, he declared that he was following developments in neighboring Yemen with “great concern”, calling for “moderation and to avoid escalation”.
The Russia condemned an “escalating” operation with “destructive objectives”, a “new example of Anglo-Saxon distortion of UN Security Council resolutions and total disregard for international law”. “We condemn them,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, assuring that “from the point of view of international law they are illegitimate.”
The Chinese instead he expressed “concern”, urging “the parties concerned (…) to show restraint to avoid an expansion of the conflict”.
Finally, among the EU countries, the France he said the Houthis bear “extremely heavy responsibility for the regional escalation,” calling for an end to the attacks. Next week, member states will discuss a plan to create a naval mission to help protect maritime traffic in the Red Sea.
© Agence France-Presse