BLINKEN WARNS HOUTHIS OF ‘CONSEQUENCES’ FOR ATTACK
▶ Iran-backed group admits launching drone and missile barrage against US Navy in Red Sea
The risk of further escalation in the Red Sea increased yesterday, with the US and UK warning of action against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
It came after the Iran-backed group yesterday admitted for the first time to directly attacking US naval forces – when a salvo of drones and missiles was fired on Tuesday.
“There will be consequences” if the Houthis continue their attacks, warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a visit to Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet and an anti-Houthi maritime task force.
The visit was part of his regional tour in a bid to prevent the Israel-Gaza war from further spilling over in the region.
“The naval forces, the missile force and the drone force carried out a joint military operation with a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones, targeting an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity,” Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said on X.
The US military’s Central Command said the “complex attack” was thwarted and that American and British jets and warships shot down 18 drones and three missiles.
The assault – the largest so far of the attacks by the Houthis
– came before a UN Security Council vote on a draft resolution to condemn the group’s threat to “navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security”.
In London, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps hinted at the possibility of direct strikes on Houthi posts, given the escalating costs of shipping goods through the Red Sea and risk of increased global inflation.
Asked whether the US-led task force would fulfil its threats of an armed response against the Yemeni rebels, Mr Shapps said he had been in touch with fellow military leaders, including in Saudi Arabia.
“We are all agreed in one voice, this cannot continue, and we won’t allow it to continue. Watch this space,” he said.
Major companies have chosen to avoid the Red Sea and
seek longer but safer routes by southern Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope.
The Houthis said their attacks are in support of their ally Hamas in Gaza.
After saying the civilian toll in Gaza was “far too high”, Mr Blinken met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and discussed ways to improve the dire conditions in the Palestinian enclave.
Mr Abbas spoke with Mr Blinken of the need “to stop the Israeli aggression against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank”, which has also been torn by deadly unrest, said the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Mr Blinken told Mr Abbas that Washington supports “tangible steps” towards the creation of a Palestinian state – a long-term goal that the hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed.
As Mr Blinken arrived under tight security at Mr Abbas’s headquarters in Ramallah, a group of protesters held up signs that read “Stop the genocide”, “Free Palestine” and “Blinken out”.
The US has been accused of not putting enough pressure on Israel, and Mr Blinken’s visit appeared to have had little impact.
Gaza’s health authorities said that Israeli forces had killed 126 Palestinians and injured 241 in 24 hours.
The Israeli military struck a house adjacent to Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir Al Balah, in central Gaza, the local government’s media office said.
The bombing left more than 40 people dead or wounded.
Another Israeli strike, on a family house in the southern city of Rafah, killed 15 people. Meanwhile, 10 lorries carrying 1.6 million items of winter clothing and blankets from the UAE have arrived at the Rafah crossing as temperatures plunge to around 8°C.
Israel’s war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said that the war in Gaza will last months.
He issued a threat against Lebanon amid clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
“If Lebanon wants its citizens to become human shields for Hezbollah and Iran, we will act in southern Lebanon as we are doing in Gaza now,” he said.
Hezbollah and the Houthis are part of the Iran-backed regional axis of armed groups that includes militias in Iraq.
In Iraq, long-standing calls by factions – many close to Iran – for the US-led coalition’s departure from the country have gathered steam.
There has been a series of US strikes on militant groups in Iraq in response to dozens of drone and missile attacks on US forces since Israel launched its Gaza war.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani emphasised that his country wants a quick and orderly negotiated departure of US-led military forces from its soil but has not set a deadline, describing their presence as destabilising.
“There is a need to reorganise this relationship so that it is not a target or justification for any party, internal or foreign, to tamper with stability in Iraq and the region,” he said.
While the US and its allies continue their diplomatic efforts, the death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza goes up
Yemen’s Houthi rebels yesterday claimed responsibility for a barrage of drones and missiles aimed at a US warship in the Red Sea, which also apparently targeted commercial ships.
It is the first time the group has admitted directly attacking US naval forces, although it has previously threatened the American navy following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
The US military’s Central Command said the “complex attack” was thwarted.
American and British jets and warships shot down 21 drones and anti-ship missiles at about 9pm on Tuesday, the US military said.
The assault – the largest so far from the Houthis – came the night before a UN Security Council vote on the threat posed by the rebels.
“The naval forces, the missile force, and the drone force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a joint military operation with a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones, targeting an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity,” Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said on X.
The admission could hasten calls for tougher action against the group, following a call from France’s ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere, for the Security Council to meet and discuss the crisis.
The draft UN resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company, which the group seized on November 19 along with its crew. The crew of the ship, who are from the Philippines, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Mexico, among other countries, are still being held by the rebels.
Iran-backed Houthis fired 18 one-way attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile towards international shipping lanes where dozens of merchant vessels were at sea, the Central Command said.
It is unclear if the US and allies are planning a tougher response to the militia, after destroying three small Houthi boats last month that had fired on US forces and attacked a merchant ship, the Maersk Hangzhou.
Some US allies have expressed caution about Operation Prosperity Guardian – the mission to protect shipping in the waterway – turning from a protective mission to a direct conflict with the Houthis.
The Italian Defence Minister, Guido Crosetto, said yesterday that the group must be stopped without starting a new war. “It is a huge problem. It is a consequence of other [war] outbreaks. I would not like to open a third front of war at this time,” Mr Crosetto said. He was referring to the current conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
Last month, the Houthis launched 14 drones against shipping, including naval coalition vessels.
While drones have been used against ships before, in the Ukraine war, and by Iran for attacking ships with links to Israel, the latest drone attacks are an unprecedented use of the weapons at sea.
American forces used F/A-18s launched from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier, plus interceptors from three other ships.
A British Royal Navy guided-missile destroyer was also involved in the operation.
“This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since November 19. There were no injuries or damage reported,” the Central Command said.
Last week, the US, the UK, Bahrain and other countries warned the Houthi rebels of the probable consequences if they continued their destabilising actions.
That message should be “taken very seriously”, Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday, before the latest Houthi attack was made public.