The United States’s and United Kingdom’s militaries carried out strikes against eight Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday.
The main targets of Monday’s strikes were an underground storage facility and locations connected to the group’s missile and air surveillance capabilities, according to a statement from the governments of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, the U.K., and the U.S.
“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since our coalition strikes on January 11, including anti-ship ballistic missile and unmanned aerial system attacks that struck two U.S.-owned merchant vessels,” the governments said.
This was the eighth time since Jan. 11 that the U.S. carried out strikes against the Yemen-based Houthis, the majority of which they carried out unilaterally. The U.S. and U.K. carried out the first iteration of strikes on Jan. 11, where they hit dozens of targets.
President Joe Biden spoke with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday. The two leaders discussed the “ongoing Iranian-backed Houthi attacks against merchant and naval vessels transiting the Red Sea,” according to a readout from the White House. “They reiterated their commitment to freedom of navigation, international commerce, and defending mariners from illegal and unjustifiable attacks.”
The Houthis have launched missiles and drones at more than 30 commercial vessels in the Red Sea since mid-November. Commercial shipping companies have largely opted to reroute ships around the southern tip of the continent of Africa instead of transiting the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal.
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The U.S. and other Western countries issued numerous warnings before the first set of strikes.
The Yemeni rebels have said they would continue to carry out attacks against commercial vessels despite U.S. strikes. U.S. officials have acknowledged that the strikes have degraded the Houthis capabilities, but not enough to stop them from being able to launch these attacks.
