True to their word, US and UK military forces operating in the Red Sea region struck facilities used by the Houthi militia in Yemen on 11 January 2024 in response to the Houthis’ attacks on international shipping.
More than 60 targets at 16 Houthi militant locations in Yemen were struck, according to the commander of the US Ninth Air Force (US Air Forces Central), Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich. Targets struck included command-and-control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defence radars.
“Over 100 precision-guided munitions of various types were used in the strikes,” said Gen Grynkewich in a statement on 11 January. “These strikes were comprised of coalition air and maritime strike and support assets from across the region, including US Naval Forces Central Command aircraft and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from surface and sub-surface platforms.” The naval vessels involved included unnamed guided missile destroyers and the Ohio-class cruise missile submarine USS Florida.
The UK, meanwhile, used four Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighters based out of RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus for the strikes.
“Given the persistence of the Houthis in threatening merchant ships, several of which have already suffered damage, and the deliberate targeting of [the Royal Navy destroyer] HMS Diamond and US Navy vessels on 9 January, coalition forces identified key facilities involved in these attacks, and agreed to conduct a carefully co-ordinated strike to reduce the Houthis’ capability to violate international law in this manner,” the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) stated in a press release on 12 January.
“Four RAF FGR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, therefore used Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct precision strikes on two of these Houthi facilities,” the MoD explained. “One was a site at Bani in northwestern Yemen used to launch reconnaissance and attack drones. A number of buildings involved in drone operations were targeted by our aircraft.
“The other location struck by our aircraft was the airfield at Abbs. Intelligence has shown that it has been used to launch both cruise missiles and drones over the Red Sea. Several key targets at the airfield were identified and prosecuted by our aircraft.”
The UK MoD stated that, while the detailed results of the strikes are being assessed, early indications were that “the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow, and our commitment to protecting the sea-lanes, through which some 15% of the world’s shipping passes and which is vital to the global economy, has been amply demonstrated”.
However, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e stated on 12 January that the attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea would continue, while confirming that five people were killed and six others wounded as a result of the US/UK strikes.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm that they will continue to prevent Israeli ships going to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigation in the Arab and Red Seas,” Sare’e said.
The US and UK governments issued a joint statement in conjunction with 11 other countries on 3 January 2024 warning the Houthis against further attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region.
“The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the statement said.
Now that the US and UK armed forces have demonstrated that resolve, it will be interesting to note any change in, or degradation of, Houthi military operations. However, observers have pointed out the past resilience of the Houthi forces, who have already survived being targeted by a Saudi-led military intervention since 2015.
Hostile Houthi action against international shipping began in response to the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza following Hamas’ terrorist attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
