#U.S. & U.K. attack Yemen

[zvaigzdelasas]

The U.S. and U.K. on Monday staged airstrikes against multiple targets in Yemen[...]

The White House has insisted the airstrikes have been effectives despite repeated Houthi attacks [and US President Biden's own words].

7th round of attacks from the US, 2nd joint with UK [22 Jan 24]

[mariacallous]

Houthis Target Ship Carrying Humanitarian Aid En Route To Yemen

In the latest string of attacks, the Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen targeted a ship carrying humanitarian aid to the Port of Aden in Yemen. The incident occurred on February 19, between 12:30 p.m. and 1:50 p.m. local time, when two anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched at the M/V Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged bulk carrier owned by a U.S. company.

Fortunately, one of the missiles detonated near the ship, causing minor damage. Despite the attack, the crew courageously maintained their course, determined to deliver crucial grain supplies to the port of Aden in Yemen. The Houthis’ aggressive action has worsened the already disrupted situation in Yemen in addition to endangering the safety of marine navigation. According to reports from the U.S. Central Command, almost eighty per cent of Yemen’s population urgently needs aid, making it one of the most significant humanitarian crises globally.

Centcom condemned the strike in a statement, highlighting the negative impact of Houthi aggression on humanitarian efforts and the importance of uninterrupted aid deliveries to Yemen. The Sea Champion, despite being targeted, has a remarkable history of delivering humanitarian aid 11 times in the past five years.

The frequent assaults on commercial shipping in the region have significantly affected marine commerce via the Red Sea, forcing ships to seek alternative routes, including circumnavigating Africa’s southern point. While the Houthis claim their strikes are in response to perceived injustices, including Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Centcom has reaffirmed that the Sea Champion’s purpose is only humanitarian.

Another ship, the Rubymar, had a similar experience over the weekend, with its crew being forced to abandon ship due to an attack. Despite Houthi declarations that the Rubymar had sunk, U.S. and U.K. officials confirmed that the vessel remained afloat, highlighting the ongoing threat presented by Houthi terrorists in the area.

The United States and the United Kingdom have launched a series of airstrikes against Houthi locations in Yemen as part of their efforts to stop the attacks. Despite these steps, militants continue to pose a substantial threat to marine security and humanitarian operations in the region, emphasizing the critical need for a coordinated international response to prevent further escalation and ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen.

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇲⚔️🇾🇪 🚨

UNITED STATES TO LEAD COALITION TO QUELL ATTACKS BY THE YEMENI ARMED FORCES

The United States announced Monday the formation of a 10-nation coalition to confront attacks in the Red Sea by the Houthi-led Yemeni Armed Forces.

According to Israeli media, the coalition will include Britain, France, Bahrain, Italy, the Seychelles, Canada, Norway, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The Houthi-led Yemeni Armed Forces have been regularly launching drone and missile strikes targeting ships intending to dock at Israeli ports, with at least a dozen major shipping firms suspending operations in the area of the al-Mandab straight in the Red Sea, an area Yemen considers part of its territorial waters.

The Houthis have said the strikes are in solidarity with Palestinians living under siege and bombardment in the Gaza Strip, and say the attacks will continue as long as the Israeli Occupation's genocide in Gaza continues.

According to the U.S. and U.K. navies, they've shot down a total of 15 drones in the waterway already.

The Yemeni Armed Forces announced Monday they had attacked the Norwegian-owned Swan Atlantic and the MSC Clara using naval drones. No injuries were reported as a result of the strike.

In response to the U.S. announcement, a senior Houthi Official told Al Jazeera News the Yemeni Armed Forces would confront any U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea.

According to some reports, the coalition may expand to include Egypt and Jordan, as they have a vested interest in ensuring safe travel through the al-Mandab straight.

About 12% of global trade passes through the Red Sea, including 30% of container traffic.

#source1

#source2

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[catdotjpeg]

Yemen has risen to the top of news coverage since Thursday, when the U.S. and the U.K. struck dozens of areas in the impoverished country, in retaliation for the attacks waged by Ansar Allah (commonly known as “the Houthis”) on maritime trade in the Red Sea. U.S. forces carried out more strikes on Sanaa on Friday night. The Ansar Allah movement has repeatedly said it is deliberately applying pressure on this important trade route in order to inflict economic losses on Israel and support the Palestinian people as they face unbridled Israeli violence. Their attacks on ships passing in the area have so far not caused any casualties. U.S. President Joe Biden called Ansar Allah a “terrorist” group on Friday, condemning its “outrageous” actions in the Red Sea. U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps meanwhile warned that the world was “running out of patience” with Iran, which he held responsible for instigating the actions of its allies in Yemen. The British and American incursion has not been universally embraced, however, as European countries and regional powers like Saudi Arabia have been reportedly split over this move, which some experts have called a “dangerous” escalation of violence in the region. The military leader of Ansar Allah, Mahdi al-Mashat, vowed that his movement would not be deterred. “We will continue to prevent Israeli ships or those headed to occupied Palestine, regardless of the cost, and we hold the Americans and the British responsible for militarizing international navigation,” he said in a statement. “The solution lies in stopping the American-supported Israeli aggression against our brothers in Gaza, not in aggression against Yemen.” “We say to our brothers in Palestine and our people in Gaza that our blood is not more precious than yours, and we are at peace with our conscience knowing that we are actively participating with you,” he added.

-- "‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 99" from Mondoweiss, 13 Jan 2024

[noonesgaylikegatson]

A Houthi-controlled provincial court in Yemen handed down death sentences to 13 men found guilty of engaging in same-sex sexual relations, according to the Agence France-Presse. Three other men remain in jail and another 35 individuals have been arrested on similar charges in the province of Ibb.

Yemen is located at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The Iranian proxy rebel group Houthis controls large portions of the country in its fight against the government backed by a Saudi-led coalition of neighboring countries. In recent months, the Houthis have attacked commercial shipping transiting the Red Sea, leading to air strikes on Houthi strongholds by the U.S. and U.K.

A U.N. panel examining the situation in Yemen in 2022 and 2023 heavily criticized the Houthis for their systematic human rights abuses. The report noted an increase in sexual and gender-based violence against the LGBTQ+ community, “including cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence against men, women and children.”

The panel also reported “arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, torture and other forms of ill-treatment or punishment” against targeted groups including migrants, displaced persons, and the LGBTQ+ community.

The Houthis have also been criticized for “the indiscriminate use of landmines and improvised explosive devices” which has been part of an “endemic and systematic” policy. The panel also presented evidence that 1,964 children recruited by the Houthis died on the battlefield in 2020 and the first five months of 2021.

[usafphantom2]

Super Hornets Hit Houthi Missiles Prior To Launch In Yemen (Updated)

This is the third day in a row that the U.S. has carried out preemptive attacks against Houthi missiles being prepared to launch. 🚀

Howard AltmanPUBLISHED Jan 18, 2024 3:48 PM EST

Super Hornets from the aircraft carrier Dwight David Eisenhower struck Houthi missile installations today.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Michael Battles

The U.S., using F/A-18E/Fs Super Hornets from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, carried out another preemptive attack on Houthi missiles in Yemen on Thursday.

“U.S. Central Command forces conducted strikes on two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “U.S. forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen at approximately 3:40 p.m. (Sanaa time) and determined they were an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region. U.S. forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missiles in self-defense.”

This is the fifth attack against Houthi targets in Yemen since the Houthis began attacking Red Sea area shipping and the third day in a row that the U.S. has struck missiles being prepared to launch.

The U.S. conducted a preemptive attack against 14 Houthi missiles on Wednesday and another preemptive strike against four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles on Tuesday. The U.S. previously struck a Houthi radar site with a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile fired by the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer USS Carney on Jan. 13. That came after U.S. and U.K. aircraft, surface ship and submarine attacks on more than 60 targets hit at 28 sites in Houthi-controlled Yemen on Jan. 12.

Earlier Thursday President Joe Biden was asked by reporters if the strikes against the Houthis were working.

“Well, when you say ‘working, are they stopping the Houthis?,” Biden responded with a question of his own: “No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”

Asked to respond to that statement during a press briefing Thursday afternoon, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters, including from The War Zone, that the Pentagon “never said that the Houthis would immediately stop. That is something that they will have to make that decision and that calculation to do. It's in their best interest I think to stop. You've seen that we've been able to degrade and severely disrupt and destroy a significant number of their capabilities since Thursday, but it's really on them when they decide that they want to stop interrupting commercial shipping innocent mariners that are transiting the Red Sea.”

There were indications of an incident in the region involving another vessel, but officials could not immediately confirm that.

In addition, neither Singh nor CENTCOM could immediately confirm reports that a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone was shot down near Baghdad Thursday.

If verified, this would be the second Reaper shot down since the start of the Israel-Hamas war Oct. 7. Houthi militants in Yemen reportedly shot down a Reaper off the country's coast earlier Nov. 8, which you can read more about in our original report here.

This is a developing story. We will update it when there is more news to report.

Update: 5:53 PM Eastern -

UKMTO issued another report, this time about an unnamed merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden observing four "unidentified Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS)" flying near the ship, with one landing in the water about 800 meters away.

"Vessel and crew are safe and proceeding to their next port of call."

The Houthis, meanwhile, put out statement claiming to have struck a vessel called the Chem Ranger with "several appropriate naval missiles, resulting in direct hits."

The War Zone could not immediately verify this claim.

The Houthi statement adds that it will continue hitting shipping and conduct strikes in retaliation for the ongoing attacks conducted in Yemen by the U.S. and U.K.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that a retaliation to the American and British attacks is inevitable, and that any new aggression will not go unpunished."

"The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that navigation traffic in the Arab and Red Seas will continue to all destinations around the world except for the ports of occupied Palestine, and that the block of Israeli navigation or heading to the ports of occupied Palestine will continue until the ceasefire is achieved and the siege is lifted in the Gaza strip.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces continue to implement their defensive and offensive procedures within the legitimate right of defense of dear Yemen and in confirmation of continued solidarity and support for our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip."

We've reached out to the Pentagon and CENTCOM for information about this claim and will provide details if they become available.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.

@

[thefisherqueen]

"The United States and the United Kingdom bombed several targets in Yemen with aircraft and ships. According to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, these were precision attacks aimed at disabling, among other things, launch platforms and missile installations that the Houthis use to attack ships in the Red Sea.

Bruins Slot and Ollongren said the Dutch military support consists of “the deployment of one staff officer.” There is also political support. The Ministers called it a “short-term and limited operation.” If the U.S. asks for more support from the Netherlands, the government will consider the request, Bruins Slot and Ollongren wrote.

They also said that the intended and expected effect of the American-British operation is “de-escalation in the Red Sea, as it weakens the military capabilities of the Houthis and discourages further attacks.” They also expect the operation to reduce the risk of a “regional escalation.”

“At the same time, we must consider the scenario that the attacks continue, the conflict in the region further escalates, and that there are consequences for the Dutch position and interests in the region. The U.S. may then propose follow-up actions. The Netherlands will, as stated, reconsider its current involvement in this,” the Ministers wrote.

They decided to comply with the American-British request for support in connection with the Dutch presence and interest in the region. Parliament was not informed in advance “given the confidentiality of this operation,” Bruins Slot and Ollongren wrote. According to them, the Houthis have been called on several times to stop their armed attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

“As a traditionally seafaring country, the Netherlands attaches great importance to the right of free passage and supports this targeted operation,” outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote on X. He said the Houthis’ attacks on ships in the Red Sea are “a clear violation of international law and pose a threat to maritime personnel and trade flows.”

I have SO MANY things to say about it, but mainly: 1) The Dutch government is actively supporting Israel in their genocidal acts, you do not have a right to even speak the words 'international law', prime minister 2) Bombing is supposed to cause de-escalation??? How in the fucking world?? 3) They are actually straight up SAYING that this bombing of Yemen is to protect Dutch position and interests in the region. That's not even war propaganda anymore, it's not even attempting anymore to hide that economic and political interests are much more important than peace and middle eatern people's lives

[commonsensecommentary]

Now the the U.S. and U.K. are striking Houthi positions in Yemen, it is worth keeping in mind how quickly “limited” attacks can turn into a war that spirals out of control. Just saying.

[beardedmrbean]

After Hamas’ October 7 attack sparked the Israel-Hamas war, Hamas supporters have increasingly targeted Middle Eastern waters with anti-Israeli attacks.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have conducted several hostile maritime operations to signal their solidarity with Palestine and opposition to Israel. Houthi, officially Ansar Allah, is a Shia Islamist political and military organization that controls roughly one-third of Yemen’s most-populated territory.

On December 3, Houthi rebels launched a barrage of drone and missile strikes on commercial ships in the Red Sea, hitting three vessels.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for two of the attacks.

Responding to distress calls from the vessels under attack, the USS Carney, an Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer, “engaged and shot down” several unmanned aerial vehicles “launched from Houthi controlled areas in Yemen,” U.S. Central Command said.

“These attacks represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security,” the U.S. Central Command said. “The United States will consider all appropriate responses in full coordination with its international allies and partners.”

Yemen's Houthi Revolutionary Committee president, Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi, responded by denying the right of the U.S. military to be in the region, or to respond to those attacks.

“The Americans have no right to the Red Sea to announce that they reserve the right to respond. And to confirm this, they will not accept any military presence by China or Russia or others in the regional waters, for example near Florida or elsewhere,” Al-Houthi claimed in a December 3 post on X.

That claim is false.

Under international law, there is nothing prohibiting U.S. military vessels from navigating international waters or defending themselves or others from destructive attacks.

The Houthis, an armed-non state actor, have repeatedly targeted vessels engaged in global shipping, illegally threatening international navigation and maritime security.

“The world’s commercial fleet engaged in transporting the world’s goods and exercising the right of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, is entitled to do so safely and without fear of attack,” a spokesperson for the London-based International Chamber of Shipping, one of the world's principal shipping organizations, told Polygraph.info in a written comment.

“However, as we have seen in this case and previous incidents, commercial ships can become vulnerable to attack when traversing areas of high political tension, such as the Red Sea, at this time,” they said. “The international community has an obligation, indeed a duty, to protect the commercial fleet from such attacks.”

The Houthis have attempted to claim the commercial ships are “legitimate targets” by labeling them as being “Israeli” or “associated with Israelis.”

The same justification was used when Houthis hijacked the Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader commercial ship last month. Galaxy Leader is owned by Abraham Ungar, an Israeli international shipping mogul, although the ship is operated by Nippon Yusen, a Japanese shipping company.

Under Article 92 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ships are subject to the “exclusive jurisdiction” of the flags under which they fly.

None of the ships attacked by the Houthis on December 3 are registered in Israel, fly the flag of Israel, or are otherwise connected to a state or entity that is party to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The Israeli Defense Force has likewise said none of the ships have links to the state of Israel.

The first ship to be hit on December 3, the Unity Explorer, is owned by U.K.-registered Unity Explorer LTD.

Reports indicate that Unity Explorer LTD’s director, David Ungar, has Israeli citizenship, although he is also a British national who resides in the United Kingdom.

The Unity Explorer is a Bahama-flagged cargo carrier and thus subject to the laws and regulations of the Bahamas.

The next ship to be struck by the Houthis was M/V Number 9, a Panama-flagged container ship owned by Number 9 Shipping Ltd, which is managed by Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, Reuters reported.

The third ship that came under attack, AOM Sophie II, is a bulk carrier registered in Panama that flies the Panamanian flag.

Even when transiting Bab el Mandeb, a straight that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, Article 19 of UNCLOS allows foreign ships, including military vessels, to pass through Yemen’s territorial waters so long as that passage is “not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal state.”

“All of the incidents to date have occurred outside Yemeni territorial waters, but even if they were within territorial waters, these attacks would still constitute a violation of international law, in particular the right of innocent or transit passage and the fundamental rights of the seafarers onboard to carry out their work and to do so without fear of attack,” the spokesperson for the International Chamber of Shipping said.

The right for the U.S. ships to defend themselves and others from unprovoked attack is also recognized under international law.

According to an overview of laws governing naval operations in both peacetime and during armed conflict complied by the U.S. Naval War College: “International law, embodied in the concept of collective self-defense, provides authority for the use of proportionate force necessary for the protection of foreign flag vessels and aircraft and foreign nationals and their property from unlawful violence, including terrorist or piratical attacks, at sea.”

Per the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, issues of proportionality regarding acts of self-defense are subject to debate.

In this instance, the USS Carney only shot down the unmanned drones launched from Houthi controlled areas in Yemen. The U.S. did not launch retaliatory strikes on Yemeni soil against the Houthi forces that launched the attacks.

[questioningespecialy]

looks like Houthi efforts have been too effective

didn't see any reports of them actually killing/injuring people even when firing at helicopter and ships, so~ this is an interesting escalation

The two countries’ militaries targeted Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen in a series of bombings, with Biden warning in a White House statement that he will not hesitate “to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.” —How Congress Is Reacting to Biden’s Military Attack on the Houthis in Yemen BY CHAD DE GUZMAN, JANUARY 11, 2024 11:20 PM EST

so "the spice must flow"

The United States is evil through and through.

[mynewshq]

Yemen’s Houthi rebels suspected of firing missiles at a container ship

Two missiles suspected to have been fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Aden late Friday, splashing down nearby without causing any damage, authorities said. The attack Friday saw two missiles “exploding in close proximity to the vessel” some 240 kilometers (150 miles) east of Aden, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The ship “reports all crew are safe and proceeding to next port of call,” the UKMTO said. “Investigations are ongoing.” The Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational body overseen by the U.S. Navy, on Saturday identified the vessel targeted as the Liberian-flagged container ship Groton. The Groton came under attack Aug. 3 as well in a similar Houthi assault off Aden that included two missiles fired at the vessel, with one causing minor damage. The ship “was targeted due to other vessels within its company structure making recent port calls in Israel,” the center said. The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack Friday. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. Meanwhile, the U.S. military's Central Command said Saturday it destroyed two drones over Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. Read the full article

[plethoraworldatlas]

For hundreds of years, the U.S. military has been killing people. It’s been a constant of our history. Another constant has been American military personnel killing civilians, whether Native Americans, Filipinos, Nicaraguans, Haitians, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, Yemenis, and on and on. And there’s something else that’s gone along with those killings: a lack of accountability for them.

Late last month, the Department of Defense (DOD) released its congressionally mandated annual accounting of civilian casualties caused by U.S. military operations globally. The report is due every May 1 and, in the latest case, the Pentagon even beat that deadline by a week. There was only one small problem: It was the 2022 report. You know, the one that was supposed to be made public on May 1, 2023. And not only was that report a year late, but the 2023 edition, due May 1, 2024, has yet to be seen.

Whether that 2023 report, when it finally arrives, will say much of substance is also doubtful. In the 2022 edition, the Pentagon exonerated itself of harming noncombatants. “DOD has assessed that U.S. military operations in 2022 resulted in no civilian casualties,” reads the 12-page document. It follows hundreds of years of silence about, denials of, and willful disregard toward civilians slain purposely or accidentally by the U.S. military and a long history of failures to make amends in the rare cases where the Pentagon has admitted to killing innocents.

Moral Imperatives

“The Department recognizes that our efforts to mitigate and respond to civilian harm respond to both strategic and moral imperatives,” reads the Pentagon’s new 2022 civilian casualty report.

And its latest response to those “moral imperatives” was typical. The Defense Department reported that it had made no ex gratia payments—amends offered to civilians harmed in its operations—during 2022. That follows exactly one payment made in 2021 and zero in 2020.

...

A 2020 study of post-9/11 civilian casualty incidents by the Center for Civilians in Conflict and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute found that most went uninvestigated. When they did come under official scrutiny, American military witnesses were interviewed while civilians—victims, survivors, family members—were almost totally ignored, “severely compromising the effectiveness of investigations,” according to that report.

In the wake of such persistent failings, investigative reporters and human rights groups have increasingly documented America’s killing of civilians' its underreporting of noncombatant casualties; and its failures of accountability in Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere.

During the first 20 years of the war on terror, the U.S. conducted more than 91,000 airstrikes across seven major conflict zones and killed up to 48,308 civilians, according to a 2021 analysis by Airwars, a U.K.-based air-strike monitoring group.

[mariacallous]

Since the Houthis began attacking international shipping, media coverage and official statements have defined them as an Iranian proxy, but this downplays the Houthis’ threat and obscures the solution to it. In truth, the Houthis are not an Iranian proxy, even though they benefit from Iranian support. Rigorous definitions of the term “proxy” require that the sponsor has some means of controlling the proxy, as this is what differentiates a proxy from a partner/ally. But Iran lacks control over Houthi behavior and the Houthis are not acting primarily on behalf of Iran. This is important because the Houthis have demonstrated that they are often a more unpredictable and aggressive actor than their Iranian supporters.

Rather than being part of a centralized proxy system, the Houthis are an independent part of an increasingly complex network that allows them to work directly with over a dozen other groups to share expertise, coordinate activities, and even collaborate on joint attacks. This web enables a proliferation of chaos far beyond what Iran could orchestrate by itself, and beyond what it can effectively control. For this reason, attempts to address the Houthis’ threat by putting pressure on or engaging with Iran are doomed to fail.

The Houthis are an independent actor

After a Houthi drone killed an Israeli citizen and wounded several others in Tel Aviv on July 19, the Houthis quickly announced that Iran only learned of the attack after the fact in an attempt to assert their own independence. The Houthis have consistently demonstrated that they retain sole authority over decisionmaking. At times, this has included taking actions that run counter to Iranian interests, as they did by declaring a unilateral cease-fire with Saudi Arabia in 2019, even as Iran sought to use the Houthis to escalate tensions in the region.

The Houthis have also tried to mitigate their dependence on Iranian weapons flows, securing critical weapons parts from China, developing independent financing schemes for weapons procurement, and now pursuing military support from Russia. While still dependent on external parts, the Houthis have improved their ability to manufacture weapons inside of Yemen and have honed their independent expertise with new weapons, leveraging the fact that they are battle-tested in a way Iran is not. Over the past several months alone, they have rapidly improved their use of unmanned surface vessels, allowing them to sink a Greek coal ship in June.

The Houthis’ independence from Iran is important because the Houthis are currently more likely than Iran to escalate. The Houthis are less vulnerable than Iran to U.S. and international pressure, meaning they can afford to take greater risks. After several years of a Saudi-led coalition air campaign, the Houthis have grown accustomed to shielding their weapons supply from airstrikes, which is why recent U.S. and U.K. strikes have failed to significantly erode the Houthis’ attack capabilities.

The Houthis are also less vulnerable to international sanctions, as they operate largely outside of the international financial system. Iran has been forced to cope with domestic unrest and the economic impact of financial sanctions. Yemenis, on the other hand, have been facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises for a decade, making them unfortunately more accustomed to the economic deprivation and violence that the Houthi approach has perpetuated in the country.

In Yemen, conflict has become the norm in a way that is not the case in Iran, and the Houthis have presented themselves as the sole defenders of Yemen against external aggression—a narrative that depends on continued conflict. For years, that “aggression” came from the Saudi-led coalition, but this year, the narrative expanded to include the United States. And after January 20, Israel, arguably the most compelling foe for the Houthis and their supporters, joined the fray. In this way, Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Yemen in July will serve to greatly embolden the Houthis and incentivize them to pursue continued and even greater conflict with Israel, potentially even after a Gaza cease-fire is in place. While the Houthis have framed their maritime and regional attacks in the context of the Gaza war, Yemen analysts widely agree that the Houthi’s attacks are largely driven by their own domestic imperatives and regional ambitions, such that the threat will likely persist even after a Gaza cease-fire is in place.

The Houthis as a new model of Iranian support

The tendency to consider all Iranian-backed groups as proxies may be due to the fact that Lebanese Hezbollah, the most powerful Iranian-backed group in the region, is in fact a proxy that has served as a model for Iran’s support to other groups. But this is an oversimplification: The level and nature of Iran’s support to groups like the Houthis and Hamas never came close to what it provided Hezbollah (the U.S. government assesses Iran still provides $700 million annually to Hezbollah), and they never shared Iran and Hezbollah’s level of ideological alignment. Replicating the decades-long, major investment Iran made in Hezbollah would be impractical at scale.

Iranian support for the Houthis instead represents a different model: limited initial investments in a group that shares some ideological alignment but comes from a distinct religious background (the Houthis ascribe to the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam, which varies significantly from the Twelver branch dominant in Iran). That investment then expands over time as the group demonstrates its strength, while Iran cedes control over the group’s decisionmaking but seeks to strengthen their ideological alignment. Because this model requires much fewer resources and works with groups that do not adhere to Iran’s Twelver Shia branch of Islam, Iran can effectively deploy this model across the Middle East and beyond.

The Houthis’ role in a larger network

When analysts and officials center Iran in the Houthi’s attacks, they misconstrue the nature of the network that has developed between the Houthis and other Iranian-backed groups. Because the Houthis work directly with many of the groups in this network, it creates a greater, more diffuse threat that may or may not involve Iran.

In June, the Houthis claimed a joint attack with the Islamic Resistance of Iraq on Israel’s Haifa port. Such coordinated attacks from multiple directions could become more regular and complicate defensive efforts. The Houthis’ cooperation could extend beyond the Middle East as well. U.S. officials recently reported that the Houthis are providing weapons to Somali militant group al-Shabab; coordinated attacks between the Houthis and al-Shabab against ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea could further raise the costs of maritime shipping and frustrate U.S. attempts to combat the attacks. While only a fraction of Houthi attacks have resulted in serious damage to ships, they have stopped major shippers from sailing through the Red Sea, forcing a diversion to longer and costlier routes with cascading consequences for the industry. According to the Drewery World Container Index, container shipping costs have increased almost four-fold since the Houthi attacks began.1

This interconnected network also yields a faster proliferation of weapons and expertise. The Houthis have used years of war to hone their expertise and experiment with modifications to Iranian weapons—allowing them to successfully send drones over 1,600 miles and sink ships using unmanned boats. The Houthis’ direct engagement with groups like Hezbollah, who has similarly battled with its more powerful neighbors, was important to their development, and now the Houthis may share their expertise with other groups in the Middle East and Africa, exponentially increasing the regional threat.

Iran is not the solution to the Houthi threat

For too long, countries have sought to solve the Houthi threat via pressure on or engagement with Iran. This approach assumes that Iran either controls the Houthis, or that it has sufficient leverage to convince them to fundamentally change their behavior. Even if Iran were willing to cut off its support to the Houthis—which appears unlikely—the Houthis’ attempts to minimize their dependence on Iran and the diffuse nature of the network of Iranian-supported groups means the Houthis would endure.

Saudi Arabia’s détente agreement with Iran in March 2023 is perhaps the clearest example of why this approach is flawed. Many analysts hoped the agreement could help resolve the conflict in Yemen and promote regional stability. But that did not occur. By the time China helped broker that agreement, Yemen was a year into a U.N.-mediated truce that continues to prevent major Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. It was not the agreement with Iran that allowed Saudi Arabia to de-escalate with the Houthis, it was the Yemen agreement that created the space for the Saudis to de-escalate with Iran. The Saudis realized that the solution to their Houthi problem did not run through Tehran but Sanaa. Israel and others who have focused on the Houthis as part of an Iranian threat, and countries like China that seek to appeal to Tehran to change Houthi behavior in the Red Sea, have not yet learned this lesson.

There is no easy solution to the Houthi threat. Addressing this threat requires either eliminating the Houthi’s capability to conduct disruptive attacks—which both a major Saudi-led coalition and more limited U.S. and U.K. strikes have failed to do—or changing the Houthis’ intent. A U.N.-led peace process in Yemen has sought to achieve the latter by shifting the Houthis’ incentives. However, the war in Gaza and a profound power imbalance between the Houthis and other Yemeni parties have complicated these efforts. Still, the April 2022 truce is evidence that the Houthis’ incentives can be shifted away from continued war. The challenge will be striking a careful balance that does not simply appease the Houthis and embolden them to launch a new round of violence.

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War Criminal U.S., Not ‘The Terrorist War Criminal Zionist 🐖 Isra-hell’, Shot Down Most Iran Drones And Missiles

American Forces Did Most of the Heavy Lifting Responding to Iran’s Retaliation for the Attack on Its Embassy in Damascus, Syria.

— Ken Klippenstein, Daniel Boguslaw | April 15 2024

An Iranian ballistic missile lays in an empty field in the Soran district of Erbil, Iraq, after Tehran’s retaliatory strike on Terrorist War Criminal 🐖 Isra-hell, on April 14, 2024. As many as half of all weapons shot by Iran had technical failures, according to U.S. intelligence. Photo: Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images

The War Criminal United States shot down more drones and missiles than Israel did on Saturday night during Iran’s attack, The Intercept can report.

More than half of Iran’s weapons were destroyed by U.S. aircraft and missiles before they ever reached Israel. In fact, by commanding a multinational air defense operation and scrambling American fighter jets, this was a U.S. military triumph.

The extent of the U.S. military operation is unbeknownst to the American public, but the Pentagon coordinated a multination, regionwide defense extending from northern Iraq to the southern Persian Gulf on Saturday. During the operation, the U.S., U.K., France, and Jordan all shot down the majority of Iranian drones and missiles. In fact, where U.S. aircraft originated from has not been officially announced, an omission that has been repeated by the mainstream media. Additionally, the role of Saudi Arabia is unclear, both as a base for the United States and in terms of any actions by the Saudi military.

In calculating the size of Iran’s attack and the overwhelming role of the United States, U.S. military sources say that the preliminary estimate is that half of Iran’s weapons experienced technical failures of some sort.

“U.S. intelligence estimates that half of the weapons fired by Iran failed upon launch or in flight due to technical issues,” a U.S. Air Force senior officer told The Intercept. Of the remaining 160 or so, the U.S. shot down the majority, the officer said. The officer was granted anonymity to speak about sensitive operational matters.

Asked to comment on the United States shooting down half of Iran’s drones and missiles,” the Terrorist, War Criminal and Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐗’s Illegal Regime of Isra-hell Defense Forces and the White House National Security Council” did not respond at the time of publication. The Pentagon referred The Intercept to U.S. Central Command, which pointed to a press release saying CENTCOM forces supported by U.S. European Command destroyers “successfully engaged and destroyed more than 80 one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen.”

Terrorist War Criminal Zionist 🐖 Isra-hell says that more than 330 drones, low-flying cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles were launched by Iran, including some 30 Paveh-type cruise missiles, 180 or so Shahed drones, and 120 Emad intermediate-range ballistic missiles, as well as other types of weapons. All of the drones and cruise missiles were launched from Iranian territory, Israel says. Some additional missiles were also launched from inside Yemen, according to IDF data.

Most media reports say that none of the cruise missiles or drones ever entered “Terrorist, War Criminal, Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐗’s Illegal Regime of Isra-helli airspace.” According to a statement by IDF spokesperson Adm. Daniel Hagari, some 25 cruise missiles “were intercepted by IAF [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets outside the country’s borders,” most likely over Jordanian territory.

Terrorist, War Criminal and Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐗’s Illegal Regime of Isra-hell’s statement that it shot down the majority of Iranian “cruise missiles” is probably an exaggeration. According to U.S. military sources and preliminary reporting, U.S. and allied aircraft shot down the majority of drones and cruise missiles. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the Royal Air Force Typhoons intercepted “a number” of Iranian weapons over Iraqi and Syrian airspace.

The Jordanian government has also hinted that its aircraft downed some Iranian weapons. “We will intercept every drone or missile that violates Jordan’s airspace to avert any danger. Anything posing a threat to Jordan and the security of Jordanians, we will confront it with all our capabilities and resources,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said during an interview on the Al-Mamlaka news channel.

French fighters also shot down some drones and possibly cruise missiles.

U.S. aircraft, however, shot down “more than” 80 Iranian weapons, according to U.S. military sources. President Joe Biden spoke with members of two F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft squadrons to “commend them for their exceptional airmanship and skill in defending Terrorist, War Criminal and Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐗’s Illegal Regime of Isra-hell from an unprecedented aerial attack by Iran.” Two F-15 squadrons — the 494th Fighter Squadron based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, and the 335th Fighter Squadron from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina — are forward deployed to the Middle East, at least half of the planes at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

Two U.S. warships stationed in the Mediterranean — the USS Carney (DDG 64) and the USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) — shot down at least six ballistic missiles, the Pentagon says. The War Zone is reporting that those ships may have fired Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) interceptors in combat for the first time. A U.S. Army Patriot surface-to-air missile battery in Erbil, Iraq, shot down at least one ballistic missile. Wreckage of an Iranian missile was also found outside Erbil, as well as in an open area outside the province of Najaf.

Iran’s attack marks the first time since 1991 that a nation state has attacked Israel directly. Contending with extremely long distances and utilizing scores of decoys and swarm tactics to attempt to overwhelm Middle East air defenses, Iran managed to hit two military targets on the ground in Israel, including Nevatim Air Base. According to the IDF, five missiles hit Nevatim Air Base and four hit another base. Despite the low number of munitions successfully landing, the dramatic spectacle of hundreds of rockets streaking across the night sky in Syria, Iraq, and Iran has left Tehran contented with its show of force.

Iran ��has achieved all its goals, and in our view the operation has ended, and we do not intend to continue,” Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said over the weekend. Still, he cautioned, “If the Zionist regime or its supporters demonstrate reckless behavior, they will receive a decisive and much stronger response.”

The U.S. coordinated the overall operation from the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where the overall commander was Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, the air commander of CENTCOM. “We take whatever assets we have that are in theater … under our tactical control or in a direct support role across the joint force and the coalition, and we stitch them together so that we can synchronize the fires and effects when we get into that air defense fight,” Grynkewich told Air & Space Forces Magazine after the Iran attack. “We’re trying to stitch together partners in the region who share a perspective of a threat, share concern of the threats to stability in the region — which primarily emanate from Iran with a large number of ballistic missiles — and be in a position where we’re able to share information, share threat warning. And the ultimate goal is to get to a much deeper and fuller integration. We’ve made tremendous progress.”

In a call immediately following Iran’s attack, Biden reportedly told Isra-helli Terrorist Zionist 🐖 Prime Minister Benjamin Satan-Yahu that “The Terrorist, War Criminal and Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐗’s Illegal Regime of Isra-hell really came out far ahead in this exchange” and warned of the “risks of escalation” — as if that hadn’t already happened.

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After months of attacks on tankers in the Red Sea by the Yemeni Ansar Allah rebels in solidarity with Palestinians, U.S. and U.K. forces carried out strikes across Yemen overnight Thursday.  American and British warplanes, ships and submarines reportedly struck the Yemeni capital Sanaa, as well as the cities of Taiz, Hodeidah, and other locations in the Hajjah governorate. “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,” U.S. President Joe Biden said. The latest U.S. bombing of Yemen drew outrage from protesters in New York City, as well as a number of regional armed groups. Ansar Allah, often referred to as “Houthis,” however, vowed to continue to apply pressure on Israel via the Red Sea. “The American and British stance to protect ships linked to Israel to allow the continuation of Israeli crimes without disturbance will not deter us,” Abdulmalik Badr El-Din Al-Houthi, a commander of Ansar Allah said.  Elsewhere in the region, an Israeli airstrike on a civil defense center in the southern Lebanese town of Hanin killed two paramedics on Thursday, as Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement continue to exchange fire along the Blue Line.

-- "‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 98" from Mondoweiss, 12 Jan 2024

The above headline from Reuters says it quite plainly: "US and Britain strike Yemen in reprisal for Houthi attacks on shipping."