US, UK announce new strikes on Yemen’s Houthis over Red Sea shipping attacks

The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have attacked dozens of ships in the major waterway since November, disrupting international maritime trade and raising concern about the impact on the global economy.

On Monday, the US and UK said they had carried out eight strikes, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, targeting a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and surveillance capabilities.

“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners,” the joint statement read.

The Houthis have stressed the attacks are in response to Israel’s war in Gaza and to show their support for the Palestinians.

The armed group has carried out more than 30 attacks on international shipping since mid-November, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.

It added the attacks on Houthi sites were to hold the group “accountable for their illegal and unjustifiable attacks on mariners and commercial shipping” as well as to “de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea”.

Following the latest round of US and UK air raids in Yemen on Monday, Houthi leader Mohamed Ali al-Houthi stated the assault would only make the Yemeni people stronger.

In a statement posted on al-Houthi’s account on X early Tuesday, he said that “the American and British must understand that we are in a time of response and that our people do not know how to surrender.”

“Your strikes will only make the Yemeni people stronger and more determined to confront you, as you are the aggressors against our country,” added al-Houthi, who is the head of the group’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee.

Yemenis “are fighting to prevent the genocide and siege of the people of Gaza”, he continued, while accusing the US of protecting Israel, which he described as a “terrorist criminal” country.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the group’s political bureau, stated that “We will continue our military operations against the Zionist enemy no matter how aggressively they might bombard Yemen”.

“Our strikes will go on as long [Israeli] atrocities and genocide in Gaza persist,” he pointed out.

Monday’s strikes came after the Houthis claimed to have conducted a successful attack on the US military cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden. US Naval Forces Central Command denied the claims as “patently false” and noted it had “maintained constant communications with M/V Ocean Jazz throughout its safe transit”.

The Houthis did not say when or precisely where the attack took place, or if any damage was caused.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that retaliation against American and British attacks is inevitable, and any new aggression will not go unpunished,” the group announced in a statement.

UK maritime security firm Ambrey said the vessel named by the Houthis on Monday had been contracted by the US military.

The US and UK militaries launched attacks against Houthi forces on January 11, a day after the United Nations Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms” the group’s attacks on Red Sea shipping and demanded they stop.

The Houthis began targeting merchant ships on November 19 when they seized the Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader and took it to the port of Hodeidah. The ship’s 25-strong multinational crew, many of them from the Philippines, have been held ever since.

The Yemeni group says the Red Sea attacks are part of their support for Palestinians who have been under attack from Israeli forces in Gaza for more than three months.

More than 25,000 people have been killed, according to Palestinian officials in the territory.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after fighters from the Hamas armed group carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,1200 people. Some 250 others were seized as captives during the attack.

So far, Houthi activity has been concentrated in the narrow strait of Bab el-Mandeb, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. Approximately 50 ships sail through the strait daily, heading to and from the Suez Canal – a key artery for global maritime trade.

Some of the world’s largest shipping companies have suspended operations in the region, instead sending their vessels on the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa slowing trade between Asia and Europe.