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US launches fresh attack in Yemen; Houthis promise retaliation

NEW YORK, Jan. 13 (Reuters) - As Washington promises to defend shipping from attacks by the Iran-aligned group, tensions have increased as the Houthi movement pledged a "strong and effective response" following the United States' second strike in Yemen during the night.

Concerns regarding the conflict's escalation have grown as a result of the strikes. Since Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas went to war, other countries such as Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq have also joined the fight, including Iran.

One day after many US and British strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen, the United States announced that the most recent strike targeted a radar post.

The American-British strikes, according to the Pentagon, had "good effects" on Friday.

The Houthis claim their naval assault is intended to aid Palestinians in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, an organization supported by Iran, who are under Israeli invasion and siege. They have targeted numerous vessels that were unknown to be connected to Israel.

The group, which also controls most of Yemen's west and north, has fired missiles and drones up the Red Sea at Israel.Speaking to Al Jazeera, Houthi spokeswoman Nasruldeen Amer stated, "This new strike will have a firm, strong and effective response," adding that there had been no "material damages" or injuries.

Another Houthi official, Mohammed Abdulsalam, told Reuters that the group's capacity to stop Israel-affiliated warships from crossing through the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea was unaffected significantly by the strikes, including the one that occurred overnight and targeted a military base in Sanaa.

In the second strike, which took place early on Saturday local time, the guided missile destroyer Carney fired Tomahawk missiles "to degrade the Houthis' ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels," according to a statement released by the U.S. Central Command on X, formerly Twitter.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued a warning on Friday, threatening to order additional strikes if the Houthi commanders did not cease their attacks on military and commercial vessels in one of the most economically significant rivers in the world, despite their threats of reprisal.

"We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior," Biden stated to reporters.

According to John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House, the early strikes were directed at the Houthis' capacity to launch, store, and control missiles or drones, which they have utilized to endanger shipping. Washington, he maintained, was not interested in going to war with Yemen.

Five fighters, according to the Houthis, were slain in the initial strikes.

by Friday, hundreds of thousands of Sanaa residents could be heard singing anti-Israel and anti-US slogans from a drone captured by Houthi television station Al-Masirah.

Reporters questioned Biden about whether he thought the movement was still classified as a terrorist organization after his government withdrew the Houthis from a State Department list of "foreign terrorist organizations" in 2021. "I believe they are," he uttered.

OVERFLOW

Since Hamas militants launched an assault on southern Israel on October 7, murdering 1,200 people and taking 240 prisoners, the Red Sea crisis has contributed to the displacement of people throughout the Middle East.

In response, Israel has destroyed a sizable portion of Gaza in an attempt to completely destroy Hamas. The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that since October 7, Israeli bombardment on the territory have resulted in the deaths of 23,843 Palestinians.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield justified the Yemeni strikes to the UN Security Council on Friday, stating that their goal was "to disrupt and degrade the Houthis' ability to continue the reckless attacks against vessels and commercial shipping."

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia claimed the U.S. and Britain "single-handedly triggered a spillover of the conflict (in Gaza) to the entire region."

Due to fears of a disruption in supplies, the price of Brent crude oil increased by more than $2 on Friday, although it later lost half of its gain.

At least nine oil tankers were seen stopping or diverting from the Red Sea, according to data from commercial ship tracking.

A naval task force was dispatched by the US and certain partners in December, and there has been a growing escalation in the past few days. Tuesday saw the downing of 21 missiles and drones by the US and the UK.

According to a senior U.S. official, Tehran is supplying the Yemeni organization with the military equipment and intelligence needed to execute their attacks. Although Iran denounced the strikes, there hasn't been any indication that it wants to engage in direct combat just yet.

Commercial ships now have to travel a longer, more expensive path across Africa due to Houthi strikes, raising concerns about fresh inflation and supply chain disruption. This week, container shipping costs have skyrocketed on major international routes.

Reporting from Aden by Mohammed Ghobari and Reyam Mukhashef; Cairo by Enas Alashray and Mohammed Ghobari; Washington by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, and Nandita Bose; Additional reporting was done in Washington by Andrew Mills, in Doha; Dubai, by Maher Hatem; London, by Elizabeth Piper; Daphne Psaledakis, Jonathan Landay, and Kanishka Singh; Written by Tom Perry, William Mallard, and Matt Spetalnick Frances Kerry and Cynthia Osterman edited.

Source reuters.com