The United States and Britain launched a surprise attack on the military facilities of the pro-Iran Yemeni rebels Houthis, who had been attacking the Red Sea, the ‘artery’ of global logistics, in the early morning of the 12th (local time). This is the first armed airstrike launched by the US-British coalition in the Middle East since the war in the Gaza Strip that broke out in October last year, and there are concerns that it could escalate into a full-scale Middle East war with the US and Iran clashing.
U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement on this day and said, “The U.S. and British forces successfully struck multiple Houthi targets in Yemen with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands.” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also called the attack a “necessary and proportional measure (to the Houthi attack).”
According to the U.S. Central Command, the U.S.-British coalition mobilized submarines and fighter jets to attack more than 60 targets in 16 Houthi rebel bases. Central Command declared the attack “a multinational strike that strengthens the international community’s commitment to freedom of navigation and counters repeated Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.”
The governments of 10 countries, including Korea, also issued statements of support. Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand emphasized that this was a protective measure for their ships exposed to Houthi attacks, saying, “This is in accordance with the right of individual and collective self-defense in accordance with the UN Charter.” .
The Houthis, who received a surprise attack, responded to AFP by saying, “We will pay for the airstrikes,” and “We will not stop attacking ships linked to Israel.” Iran also criticized it as “a clear violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a violation of international law.” Russia, which supported Hamas, also requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council immediately after the airstrike.
Domestic industries that use the Red Sea as a gateway to the European market will also find it difficult to avoid the blow. Both the TV and home appliance industries, which source parts from China and Southeast Asia and transport them to production plants in Europe, as well as the automobile, materials, and petrochemical industries that export finished products, are all affected. The Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea and Europe, is responsible for about 10% of the entire maritime transportation volume of the domestic home appliance industry.
International oil prices are also fluctuating. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for February delivery was traded at $73.96 per barrel on the 12th, up about 2.7% from the previous day’s closing price. A government official said, “When a conflict breaks out in the Middle East, oil prices react sensitively and we are watching the trend.”
On the 12th (local time), a fire is breaking out near Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, due to airstrikes by the US and UK. In the early morning of this day, the United States and Britain deployed several supply supplies targeting pro-Iranian Houthi rebel bases in Yemen. The United States said, “This airstrike is aimed at repelling Houthi rebels who continue to attack merchant ships in the Red Sea.” 2024.01.12. Sana = Myth/NewsisThe turbulence in the Middle East is rapidly becoming more violent as the United States and Britain launched extensive shelling on the base of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels, the Houthis, on the 11th (local time). This is because the war between Israel and the Palestinian armed faction Hamas, which has been going on for over 100 days in the Gaza Strip, could escalate into a full-scale war involving the United States, Britain, and Iran. The United States has so far hesitated to intervene militarily in response to provocations by pro-Iranian armed forces, but as the Houthi rebels’ blockade of the Red Sea prolonged, it eventually began a counteroffensive.
Since November 19 of last year, Houthi rebels have threatened civilian ships passing through the Red Sea 27 times. The justification is to help Palestine against Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. In order to expand its influence in the region, Iran has been uniting anti-American and anti-Israel forces, including Houthis, Hamas, and the Lebanese armed faction Hezbollah, under the name of the ‘Axis of Resistance’.
Iran’s capture of a U.S. oil tanker on the 11th was a decisive factor in the U.S. and other countries’ decision to launch an airstrike. As the global logistics burden rapidly increased due to Houthi attacks, the United States established the multinational security initiative ‘Operation Prosperity Guardians’ on December 18 last year and warned of a military response. In fact, the U.S. Navy destroyed three Houthi rebel ships that were attacking civilian merchant ships in the Red Sea late last year.
Iran also immediately responded. On the first day of this year, the destroyer Alborz was dispatched to the Red Sea, and on the 11th, the American oil tanker St. Nicholas was captured in the Strait of Hormuz. As Iran shows off its control over the world’s ‘logistics artery’, the United States cannot stand by and watch.
On the first day of the airstrike, the U.S. Air Force Central Command targeted 16 Houthi strongholds, including the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Targets included Houthi command and control nodes, munitions depots, launch systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems. A senior U.S. official told the Associated Press, “This attack targeted the Houthis’ key military facilities, and efforts were made to prevent collateral damage such as civilian casualties.”
On the 12th (local time), the U.S. Central Command released a video on social media called ‘X’ of a U.S. warship in the Red Sea area launching a missile to attack the Houthis base of Shiite rebels in Yemen. The flames created during the missile launch brightly decorate the dark night sky. On this day, the US- and British-led coalition mobilized fighter jets and attacked dozens of Houthi-related facilities. U.S. Central Command ‘X (old Twitter)’This is the first time since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip that the U.S. military directly struck Houthi rebels in Yemen. The New York Times reported, “This is the largest strike since 2016, when the United States fired three Tomahawk missiles at Houthi rebels.”
The Houthis immediately protested. Abdullah Ben Amer, a senior Houthi official, told Al Jazeera: “If the US and UK expand their military activities, we will strike their bases in the region.” The government of Saudi Arabia, a Sunni suzerain state that has been negotiating peace with the Houthi rebels for the past several months, expressed its concerns in a statement on the 12th and urged calm, saying, “We must prevent the situation from worsening.”
There was also an opinion within the United States that military response was inevitable as the Houthi rebels had significantly heightened tensions in the Red Sea region. The U.S. CNN broadcast analyzed, “The Biden administration’s ultimatum to the Houthis has been ignored, putting trust in America’s power in the Middle East at risk, raising the need to somehow re-establish deterrence.” Think tank ‘Atlantic Council’ predicted in a report that day, “The airstrikes by the United States and the United Kingdom will not stop with this one-time attack.”
However, Iran’s future response is the key variable in whether this incident will lead to a large-scale expansion of the war. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Qanani responded in a statement that day, saying, “We strongly condemn the military attacks by the United States and Britain.”
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.