US launches another retaliatory airstrike against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen

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The U.S. launched another retaliatory strike against Houthi militants in Yemen on Friday following Thursday's large-scale airstrikes, according to a U.S. official.

It was unclear if Friday's airstrike was part of the ongoing effort to further degrade the Houthi rebels' ability to attack commercial ships in the Red Sea or a direct response to the launch earlier in the day of an anti-ship fired at a ship in the Gulf of Aden that fell harmlessly into the water.

On Thursday night, the U.S. struck 28 Houthi locations in Yemen associated with the 27 drone and missile attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

U.S. officials said the sites were struck by Tomahawk cruise missiles fired by U.S. Navy destroyers, British warplanes, and U.S. Navy fighter aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower.

Houthi officials had vowed to retaliate against the U.S. following Thursday's strikes.

PHOTO: On Jan. 11, 2024, at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets. (U.S. Central Command)
PHOTO: On Jan. 11, 2024, at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets. (U.S. Central Command)

Speaking with reporters Friday afternoon on a trip to Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden called the strikes a "success" and said the U.S. will continue to respond if the Houthis keep up their "outrageous behavior."

In a statement issued Thursday, Biden warned the Houthis that he would "not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary."

U.S. officials said Friday that while assessments of Thursday's strike are still underway they believe that the Houthis' ability to launch large-scale attacks has been degraded.

Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, told reporters earlier Friday that the strikes have degraded the Houthis capability to launch a major attack like the one they tried on Tuesday.

"I know we have degraded capability," Sims said. "I don't believe that they would be able to execute the same way they did the other day," referring to Tuesday's Houthi barrage of 21 missiles and drones.

"I would hope that they don't respond," he said, adding that "we're prepared in the event that they do." He said he hoped the Houthis would realize that trying to retaliate would be "generally fruitless."

PHOTO: On Jan. 11, 2024, at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets. (U.S. Central Command)
PHOTO: On Jan. 11, 2024, at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets. (U.S. Central Command)

Sims said that any attacks would be harmful to the region.

"It does not simply affect things that are directly tied to the Houthis," he said. "But it affects many of their partners, quite honestly, or many of the folks that they they're working with, so I would hope that they don't retaliate."

Civilian casualties from Thursday night's strikes are not expected to be "very high," he said, given that the majority of the locations struck were in rural areas. He specifically mentioned missile launchers in mountain areas or very lowly populated areas.

"This was not necessarily about casualties, as much as it was about degrading capability," said Sims.

"This was solely designed to get after the capability that is impeding international freedom of navigation and international waters and that's where we feel pretty confident we did good work on that," he said.

Houthi attacks continue following multinational strike in Yemen.

Houthi militants are continuing attacks in the Red Sea in spite of a joint U.S.-U.K. strike on a dozen targets in Yemen on Thursday, a senior Pentagon official told reporters on Friday.

A ballistic anti-ship missile landed in the water on Friday morning, said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims II, director of the Joint Staff.

“I would expect that they will attempt some sort of retaliation,” he said. “Quite honestly, I would hope they wouldn’t.”

Allied strikes in Yemen hit more than 60 targets in more than a dozen locations, the White House confirmed Thursday night, meant to degrade the group’s ability to continue its attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

Sims called out Iran for its backing of the Houthis, saying that the country’s leadership has some power to tell the group to stand down and prevent any further U.S.-led strikes.

“So the hope would be that any real thought of retaliation is based on a clear understanding that, you know, we simply are not going to be messed with here,” Sims said.

The Navy on Friday sent a message warning U.S. shipping companies to stay out of the region in the wake of the strikes, the Associated Press reported.

“My guess is that the Houthis are trying to figure things out on the ground, and trying to determine what capabilities still exist for them,” Sims said.

Among the targets were air surveillance and radar systems, as well has launch sites for the missiles and drones used in 27 attacks on or near commercial ships as of Thursday.

Attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria climb to 130

A battle damage assessment, totaling destroyed equipment and casualties, is still being compiled, Sims said.

A Houthi spokesman announced Thursday that the strikes had killed five and injured another six.

“The number of casualties we don’t expect would be very high,” Sims said. “In fact, the majority of the locations that we hit were in areas that were not built up at all ― so think ballistic missile launchers that were in mountain areas or you know, very lowly populated areas.”

Though the U.S. expects Houthis to retaliate for the strikes, Sims said, officials don’t believe they will be able to replicate the complex attack carried out Tuesday, which included 18 drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missiles.

“I know we have degraded capability,” Sims said. “I don’t believe that they would be able to execute the same way they did the other day. But we will see.”

New US sanctions target Houthi support one day after military strikes

The State and Treasury departments announced new sanctions Friday aimed at damaging financial support for Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The sanctions come a day after joint U.S.-U.K. airstrikes Thursday hit more than a dozen targets in Yemen, killing five people, Houthi leadership said. The attack was in response to a Houthi attack on civilian shipping vessels in the Red Sea.

“Iran’s financial support to the Houthis has fueled their unrelenting attacks on global commerce in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,” the State Department said in a statement.

The sanctions specifically target two companies in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates involved in shipping goods, with profits supporting Houthis. It also targets four vessels associated with the companies.

The actions focus on Sa’id al-Jamal, described as an Iranian military-linked financier for Iranian support of the Houthis. Al-Jamal was designated as a terrorist by the U.S. government in 2021 for his financial support of the Houthis.

As a consequence of the sanctions, the vessels will be seized if they enter U.S. waters. It also prevents Americans from doing business with the companies.

President Biden justified Thursday’s strikes as a necessary defensive strike against a force that has targeted American vessels in the Red Sea.

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes,” Biden said.

“I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary,” he added.

Leaders of the Houthi rebel group released a statement Friday promising to respond to the massive U.S. and U.K. strikes.

“The American and British enemy bears full responsibility for this criminal aggression against our Yemeni people, and it will not go unanswered and unpunished,” the statement reads.

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