UK (Commonwealth) _ According to sources, U.S. and British troops launched attacks on over a dozen Houthi facilities in Yemen on Saturday. This was the most recent round of military action against the organization with ties to Iran that continues to threaten commerce in the area. Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand all backed the strikes.
The Houthis, who rule over the most populated areas of Yemen, have been targeted by US strikes almost every day. They have stated that their assaults on shipping are in support of Palestinians as Israel bombs Gaza.
The Houthis’ attacks have disrupted international trade and increased shipping costs, but the strikes have not been able to stop them thus far.
Countries that supported or participated in the strikes together released a statement stating that 18 Houthi targets—including air defense systems, radars, a helicopter, and subterranean weapons and missile storage facilities—were the objectives of the military action, which took place over eight different areas in Yemen.
The goal of the operations, according to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is “to worsen the situation and weaken the capacity of this Iranian-backed Houthi militia.” Austin stated, “We will not stop telling the Houthis that if they do not cease their illegal attacks, which damage the economies of the Middle East, harm the environment, and obstruct the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries, they will pay the consequences.”
The Houthi movement, sometimes referred to as Ansar Allah, which means “Supporters of God,” is a political and military Shia Islamist group that originated in Yemen during the 1990s. It is mostly composed of Zaidi Shias, with the Houthi tribe providing a substantial portion of its named leadership.
The Houthis, led by Zaidi cleric Hussein al-Houthi, became an opposition movement against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, accusing him of being dishonest and receiving support from the US and Saudi Arabia. Influenced by the Lebanese Shia political and military group Hezbollah, the Houthis developed an official motto in 2003 that was directed at Israel, the United States, and Jews. After resisting, Al-Houthi was assassinated by the Yemeni military in Saada in 2004, following his defiance of Saleh’s arrest order. Since then, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, his brother, has served as the movement’s principal leader.
The group coordinated with other opposition parties in Yemen and took part in public demonstrations during the 2011 Yemeni Revolution. Having joined the National Dialogue Conference in Yemen, they subsequently opposed the 2011 reconciliation agreement.After the Houthis and Saleh reconciled at the end of 2014, they took over the nation’s capital with his assistance. Following the takeover, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were targeted by missile and drone assaults as part of a continuing civil war, which was sparked by a military intervention spearheaded by Saudi Arabia to reinstate the internationally recognized government.
The Houthis claim that their actions are in sympathy with the Palestinian people and are intended to make it easier for humanitarian supplies to enter the Gaza Strip. Following the start of the 2023 Israel–Hamas conflict, they started firing missiles toward Israel and attacking ships near Yemen’s coast in the Red Sea.
The Houthi movement in Yemen gains support by presenting itself as an advocate for regional political-religious concerns, economic growth, and the abolition of Zaidi Shias’ political marginalization. The Houthis and Yemen’s Sunnis have a complicated relationship; while the movement has discriminated against them, it has also cooperated and recruited with them.The Houthis want to take over all of Yemen and aid outside movements that oppose Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States.
The Houthi movement’s only television news source, Al Masirah TV, reported on Saturday that US and UK troops had conducted several attacks on Sanaa, the capital. The resumed airstrikes, according to an unidentified Houthi military source, are “a miserable attempt to prevent Yemen from providing support operations to the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
This week, the Houthis used ballistic missiles and drones to strike Israel’s port and tourist city of Eilat. They also claimed responsibility for an attack on a cargo ship owned by the United Kingdom and a drone assault on a U.S. cruiser. The group’s actions are forcing ships to take a longer, more costly detour across Africa in order to bypass the strategically important Suez Canal, which handles 12% of all marine traffic worldwide.
During the Houthi campaign, no ships have been sunk and no crew members have died. Nonetheless, there are worries over what will happen to the cargo ship Rubymar, registered in the UK, whose crew was evacuated when it was damaged on February 18. According to the US military, when the Rubymar was struck, it contained about 41,000 tons of fertilizer, which might have spilled into the Red Sea and wreaked havoc on the ecology.
“To restore and safeguard freedom of navigation,” the European Union has sent a naval mission to the Red Sea. Operation Prosperity Guardian is a parallel alliance led by the US with the goal of defending economic transportation against Houthi strikes.
