Published January 21, 2024
On Saturday the Pentagon conducted yet another round of airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen, which marks likely the seventh round of such Western coalition attacks. It follows a round of strikes the day prior.
Even after this steady progression of escalation, which comes in response to near daily Houthi attacks on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, the Pentagon still says the US government does not believe it is at war in Yemen. It was only on Thursday that President Biden issued a surprise admission, saying that the bombing is not working, yet it will continue anyway. The comments to the media included Biden responding when asked whether the strikes are deterring Houthi aggression: “Well, when you say ‘working’ — are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes,” the president said.
And now the US administration is mulling bigger escalation, though it remains anything but clear whether the Houthis will actually halt their war on Red Sea shipping, given also Israel is persisting in its Gaza operation.
According to fresh reporting in Bloomberg, “The US and the UK are exploring ways to step up their campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen without provoking a broader war, with a focus on targeting Iranian resupplies and launching more aggressive pre-emptive strikes, people familiar with the matter said.”
But the fear is that it would put Washington on a collision course with Iran. Already there are widespread allegations that Iran has elite IRGC operatives on the ground advising the Houthis. The US has also accused Tehran of giving the Yemeni rebels intelligence information to help with targeting. The White House says it doesn’t want a wider war in the Middle East.
Bloomberg, based on administration sources, said that an internal debate is raging over the course of action:
The people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said the US and UK are examining ways to better disrupt Iranian efforts to resupply the Houthis at sea, especially given that it will be harder to sever land routes. A British official echoed that argument, saying officials are weighing various types of military operations to disrupt Iranian weapons flows to the Houthis.
Advocates for more aggressive action also argue that the time is ripe because of what they see as an emerging Iranian weakness. People familiar with the US stance say that the leadership in Iran may have overextended itself with its support for the Houthis along with launching attacks in Pakistan and Iraq, and may not respond to further escalation.
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SOURCE: www.zerohedge.com
RELATED: US strikes another Houthi anti-ship missile
Published January 21, 2024
WASHINGTON/CAIRO: US Central Command forces on Saturday (Jan 20) struck a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and prepared to launch, the US military said, with the latest round of strikes coming hours after the United States struck three other Houthi anti-ship missiles.
“US forces determined the missile presented a threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region, and subsequently struck and destroyed the missile in self-defense,” the US Central Command said in a statement on X.
The incident, the latest amid growing tensions in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks, took place around 0400 Yemen time (9am, Singapore time), the US Central Command added.
Hours earlier on late Friday, US Central Command forces conducted strikes against three Houthi anti-ship missiles that they said were aimed into the Southern Red Sea.
Attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia on ships in and around the Red Sea for the past several weeks have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in an escalation of the war in Gaza.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, say their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians under attack from Israel in Gaza.
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SOURCE: www.channelnewsasia.com
RELATED: Houthis claim they don’t seek to attack ships beyond those tied to Israel
Spokesman for Iran-backed militia obstructing vital trade route tells Reuters his movement does not seek to expand Red Sea attacks; pledges response to US, British airstrikes
Houthi fighters and tribesmen stage a rally against the US and the UK strikes on Houthi-run military sites near Sanaa, Yemen, January 14, 2024. (AP Photo)
Published January 19, 2024
DUBAI (Reuters) — Yemen’s Houthis have said they did not intend to expand their attacks on shipping in and around the Red Sea further, beyond their stated aims of blockading Israel and retaliating against the United States and Britain for air strikes.
In an interview with Reuters, spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam, who is also the chief Houthi negotiator in peace talks over the country’s decade-old civil war, told Reuters the group had no plans to target longstanding foes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“We do not want the escalation to expand. This is not our demand. We imposed rules of engagement in which not a single drop of blood was shed or major material losses,” said Abdulsalam. “It represented pressure on Israel only, it did not represent pressure on any country in the world.”
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control most of Yemen’s populated areas, have attacked ships at the mouth of the Red Sea since October, in what they say is a show of solidarity with Palestinians by targeting vessels linked to Israel.
However, many of the ships attacked did not have any apparent ties to the Jewish state.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
