The U.S. launched its second round of air strikes against Houthi militants in two days, following Thursday’s coordinated air and naval assault on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.
The latest retaliatory strike bombed a radar facility, U.S. Central Command confirmed Friday evening, as part of a smaller-scale attack on Houthi targets.
“This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels,” the statement read.
The Houthis fired one anti-ship ballistic missile at a commercial vessel on Thursday before getting hit by the first round of U.S.-led air strikes.
The latest development in the Middle East comes as President Joe Biden warns the Houthis that the U.S. and its allies are prepared to strike Yemen again if the Iran-backed militia persists in its attacks on Red Sea shipping.
“We will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior, along with our allies,” he said during a visit to Pennsylvania on Friday.
Along with the Biden administration’s message of deterrence, White House spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. does not intend to escalate to a larger conflict with the Houthis or Iran, even after the American and British militaries launched multiple air strikes on Houthi locations in Yemen.
“We’re not interested in a war with Yemen,” Kirby said earlier on Friday. “We’re not interested in a conflict of any kind. In fact, everything the president has been doing has been trying to prevent any escalation of conflict, including the strikes last night.”
Houthi leaders vowed fierce retaliation in response to Thursday’s strikes, which killed at least five people and wounded six others, the rebel group said.
The Houthis have attempted 28 attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea since November 19, U.S. Central Command said Friday. The Yemen-based group says it carries out the attacks in protest of the Israel–Hamas war. In fact, many of the targeted vessels hail from countries or companies associated with Israel as the embattled nation enters the third month of its military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Denmark’s Maersk and China’s Cosco are two of the many shipping giants to have recently suspended passage through the Red Sea due to the threat of Houthi attacks. Although the Chinese state-owned company halted its Red Sea transit, its vessels were not at great risk because of China’s strong ties with Iran.
The Suez Canal, the lone body of water connecting the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea, is the path by which most goods are shipped between Europe and Asia. About 12 percent of global exports, 30 percent of global container traffic, and $1 trillion worth of goods per year pass through the canal, making it one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.
With the recent Houthi attacks, however, cargo companies must resort to taking the long route around Africa, which adds about 6,000 miles and 14 days to the journey. Taking the more expensive route translates to slower delivery times and higher insurance, fuel, and personnel costs for American consumers.
Earlier this week, Houthi rebels conducted their largest aerial attack yet on vessels in the region. The barrage, fired from Yemen around 9:15 p.m. local time Tuesday, consisted of 18 one-way attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile. All 21 drones and missiles were successfully intercepted by the U.S. and U.K. navies. No injuries or damage were reported as a result of the attack.
The latest attempted strikes this week come after the U.S. and 12 allied nations issued a “final warning” to the Houthis, informing the militia it would face “consequences” if the attacks continued. “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,” the U.S.-led coalition stated on January 3. Since then, the Houthis have shown no signs of stopping.
The dozen other nations that signed the joint statement include Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
While glad the U.S. military “finally took action” this month, former deputy assistant secretary of defense Simone Ledeen said the Biden administration needs to take a stronger stance against the Houthis to more effectively restore deterrence in the Middle East. Ledeen said, in order to achieve this goal, the U.S. should impose costs on Iran and its terror proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
She also recommended that the Houthis be officially designated as terrorists, which former president Donald Trump had done. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office in 2021. On Friday, Biden admitted he thinks the Houthis are terrorists but stopped short of saying he would place them back on the foreign terrorist organization list.
“It’s irrelevant whether we designate them,” Biden said. “We’ve pieced together a group of nations, and we’re going to say if they continue to act and behave as they do, we’ll respond.”
Ledeen, a former Trump administration official, disagreed with the president’s position.
“You are in a position of weakness if all you’re doing is responding defensively,” the national-security expert told National Review.
“We have to do something to dissuade them and to make them understand that we are going to hurt you if you continue to hurt us, and the fact that we haven’t has actually invited more violence and actually made the region and the world much more dangerous,” added Ledeen, who serves as a senior fellow at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law.
“The world is much safer with a strong United States, and unfortunately we’re seeing right now that the world is very dangerous with a weak United States.”