US-UK coalition strike Iran-backed Houthi targets in YemenXs after spate of ship attacks in Red Sea
Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in recent weeks Bradford Betz
The United States and Britain carried out a series of air strikes on military locations belonging to Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen early Friday in response to the militant group's ongoing attacks on vessels traveling through the Red Sea.
In anticipation of the attack, Houthi forces transported some weapons and equipment and fortified others, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a U.S. defense official. Local reports indicated Houthi militants were evacuating the Red Sea city of Hodeidah. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak briefed his cabinet of ministers late Thursday on the imminent military intervention.
British media also reported that other political figures, including the leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, as well as the speaker of the House of Commons, had been briefed by the government. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby called on the Houthis earlier Thursday to "stop these attacks," saying that the terrorist group would "bear the consequences for any failure to do so."
The joint strike came after Iranian forces seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman early Thursday morning. The seized vessel was in transit to Turkey when the Iranian naval forces boarded and seized the vessel, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
"The key for military action in Yemen is to respond in a way that does not lead to a never-ending tit-for-tat. That has been the administration’s approach in Syria and Iraq, and it has failed," said Richard Goldberg, a Senior Adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former National Security Council official told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"The president needs to fundamentally change the calculus for Iran and its proxies. Has President Biden ordered the Houthis to be re-listed as a foreign terrorist organization? President Biden ordered the $10 billion for Iran to be frozen? Will any IRGC targets in Yemen, or Iran's intelligence cargo ship be targeted? These are all relevant questions that help inform what the policy is and whether deterrence will actually be restored."
Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in recent weeks in protest against Israel's war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.
Fourteen countries, including the U.S., issued a joint statement last week saying: "The Houthis will bear the responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the region's critical waterways."
U.S. military said the Houthis earlier on Thursday had staged their 27th attack on shipping since Nov. 19, firing an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden.
Earlier this week, U.S. and British naval forces shot down drones and missiles fired by the Houthis toward the southern Red Sea after the Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond was attacked.
The Houthis, who seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel.
@DD_Geopolitics 2m 🇾🇪 Sana'a International Airport in Yemen was subjected to massive bombing. This was reported by Sky News Arabia.
According to him, the US-British coalition is carrying out airstrikes on Sana'a International Airport and the provinces of Sana'a, Al-Hodeidah, Saada and Damar. Jan 12, 2024 · 12:14 AM UTC
S. Defense Department official stating that Washington and London, with support from Australia, the Netherlands, Bahrain, and Canada, have executed strikes against targets in Yemen. DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics 6m 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇾🇪US official to Al Jazeera:
The strikes against Ansar Allah targeted sites Radar, UAV platforms, missiles, coastal observation posts.
The strikes against Ansar Allah positions in Yemen have ended, but we reserve the right to respond if threats continue. DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics 11m 🇾🇪 Oil prices up by over 2.5% as US Armed Forces & UK Royal Armed Forces strikes on Yemen
Al-Mayadeen quoting Israeli media: Reports of an American Navy Vessel was hit in the Red Sea
Al Jazeera correspondent: 4 raids on sites in Abs District, Hajjah Governorate, western Yemen
Ansar Allah leader: The capital Sanaa and other governorates are bombed by American and British aircrafts ... There are already reports of dead and injured due to US/UK strikes on Yemen. ....
Yemeni forces respond and bombard American battleships in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles.
The official Saba Agency in Sana’a: The American-Israeli-British aggression launches several raids on the capital, Sana’a, and the governorates of Hodeidah, Saada, and Dhamar.
🇺🇸 Pentagon confirms the successful destruction of 10 targets.
An American official told CNN: The US military launched strikes against multiple targets in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, carried out by fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles... Dx https://nitter.net/DD_Geopolitics
What happened to all that "deter escalation" bollocks?
Posted by RaskolnikovX on January 12, 2024, 5:58 am, in reply to "More"
from Blinken, Biden, et. al. Funny how it's always us that's actually escalating eh?
Worrying news to wake up to....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
public consumption & yesterday's news...get with the programme dude. Nm
It's almost the sort of thing a journalist could bring up the next time they interview the Foreign Secretary say.......no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Re: public consumption & yesterday's news...get with the programme dude. Nm
Like yourself I was just struck by the speed of the 180 degree turnaround...except of course we were being bullshitted.
Had just finishing reading Blinken saying he wants to make sure the conflict in the Middle East "doesn't spread" in the US Turkey - Greece meetings and a mere day or so later its " Bomb the Huthis!" time...
-Unlike the underlying aim: " protect Israel at all costs" it's hard to keep up with the US program to do so because there really isn't one it seems apart from unreflective ad hoc violence to intimidate its opponents.
Re: public consumption & yesterday's news...get with the programme dude. Nm
It's at moments like this I wonder how the bloody hell are "normies"/mainstream-media-fed incurious news consumers not even noticing the dissonance?
It's pretty much a matter of days between them blaring one thing and then doing the exact opposite and you would think that would permeate even if it's by a sort of media osmosis.
It really is staggering....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
The only conclusion to make is that the USUK have decided ...
...to blockade the Red Sea and Suez themselves on the premise that if their little murderous psycho-chum Israel isn't getting to play there, then nobody can...