U.S. military launches strikes on Houthis in Yemen, a major escalation in Middle East conflict

WASHINGTON – U.S. warplanes, ships and submarines along with British fighters attacked sites in Yemen Thursday associated with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who have been firing dozens of drones and missiles into Red Sea shipping lanes.

The strikes represent a significant escalation of the U.S. involvement in Middle East fighting amid Israel’s war in Gaza. They followed the 27th Houthi attack since late November earlier Thursday. In recent weeks, the Pentagon has also attacked Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and Syria who have targeted U.S. troops there with rocket attacks.

"Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces – together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands – successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways," President Joe Biden said late Thursday.

The president said the response of the international community to the Houthi attacks has been "united and resolute." The governments of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom issued a statement shortly after the U.S.-led air strikes, pledging solidarity alongside the U.S.

The Biden administration has sought to contain fighting in the Middle East to Gaza, but Iranian-backed groups throughout the region have increased their attacks.

"These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea – including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history," Biden said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who has been hospitalized since Jan. 1, approved the strikes from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, one official said. Austin, whose delay in disclosing his cancer diagnosis and hospitalization has drawn heavy, bipartisan criticism, was deeply involved in planning Thursday's attack, according to a senior Defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Austin spoke twice with Biden in recent days about planning for the attack along with consulting senior military officers, the official said. Austin gave the order Thursday to U.S. Central Command to launch the strikes and monitored them in real time.

"Today’s strikes targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, ballistic and cruise missile, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities," Austin said. "The United States maintains its right to self-defense and, if necessary, we will take follow-on actions to protect U.S. forces."

The U.S. and coalition attacks targeted Houthi missile, radar and drone capabilities considered essential to the Houthis’ campaign against commercial shipping in international waters, according to a senior Biden administration official who discussed the operation on the condition of anonymity.

The official described the scale of the attacks as “significant” but said precautions were taken to provide minimal risk for collateral damage including to civilians in Yemen.

“There is no intent to escalate the situation,” the official said. “The aim is to degrade the ability of the Houthis to continue carrying out these reckless attacks.”

The U.S. has not seen a response from the Houthis since the attacks were carried out, a senior U.S. military official said.

Prompting Biden’s decision to take military action was a major Houthi attack in the Red Sea on Tuesday that involved 20 drones and multiple missiles against U.S. Navy ships. If the attack hadn’t been defeated by U.S. and British naval forces, U.S. ships would have been hit and perhaps even sunk, the U.S. official said, including a commercial ship full of jet fuel.

Biden convened his national security team following the Tuesday attack and ordered Austin to carry out the response.

United Kingdom Royal Air Force jets took part in the attack, according to a statement from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

"The United Kingdom will always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade," Sunak said. "We have therefore taken limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defense, alongside the United States with non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping."

U.S. ships and warplanes have knocked down more than 60 missiles and one-way attack drones since Nov. 19, according to Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who commands naval forces in the region. Others have landed harmlessly in the water.

The Houthis have said their attacks are in response to Israel's war in Yemen. Their attacks have raised insurance costs for commercial ships, which transit the Red Sea en route to the Suez Canal. Some major shipping lines have chosen the longer, more expensive route around the southern tip of Africa, raising the cost of goods.

The Houthis say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas. But their targets increasingly have little or no connection to Israel and lie in the thick of major commercial trade routes linking Asia and the Middle East with Europe.

Some condemned the attack. Launching strikes on Yemen without congressional approval instead of ending the fighting in Gaza is escalating the conflict in the Middle East and "unnecessarily, illegally and dangerously" risks a broader war, according to a statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pentagon launches attacks on Houthis in Yemen