Click to see full-size image. (The United States Central Command)
Five fighters of the Houthis (Ansar Allah) were killed and six others were wounded as a result of the “American-British aggression” that targeted Yemen on January 12 morning, Brigade General Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, are a part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” which is led by Iran.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the group has been attacking commercial ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports. It has also engaged directly with the U.S. Navy in the Red Sea, firing anti-ship ballistic missiles and deploying suicide drones against U.S. and UK warships.
United States President Joe Biden said that he ordered the strikes on Yemen “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea, while British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the strikes were “necessary and proportionate.”
In a video statement, Brig. Gen. Sari said that a total of 73 strikes targeted the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as well as the provinces of al-Hudaydah, Taiz and Hajjah.
“The American and British enemies bear full responsibility for its criminal aggression against our Yemeni people, and it will not go unanswered and unpunished,” the spokesman said. “The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target sources of threat and all hostile targets on land and at sea in defense of Yemen, its sovereignty and independence.”
The spokesman also stressed that the Houthis will continue to support the Palestinian people by targeting Israel-affiliated ships in the Red and Arab seas.
Earlier, the U.S. said that Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands supported the attack on Yemen, and presented the strikes as part of an international effort to restore the free flow of trade in a key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s shipping traffic.
U.S. Air Forces Central Commander Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich said that U.S. and coalition forces “executed deliberate strikes on over 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems.”
More than 100 precision-guided munitions “of various types” were used in the attack on Yemen, according to the U.S. commander.
The strikes on the Houthis were condemned by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Palestinian Hamas Movement, Iran and several Iranian-backed armed factions in Iraq. Several counties also warned from escalation against Yemen, including Russia and China.
The Houthis response to the strikes will be fierce. The battle-hardened group possesses advanced offensive capabilities, including anti-ship weapons with ranges of hundreds of kilometers. The U.S., United Kingdom and other allies could soon find themselves facing another unwinnable war in Yemen.
