DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to stay out of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the U.S. and Britain launched multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels.
The warning in a notice to shippers came as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation for the U.S.-led strikes, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.
The White House said the U.S. expects the Houthis to try to strike back.
“Nobody was pollyannish about the possibility that they might conduct some sort of retaliation,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. He added, “This wasn’t some signaling exercise. This was designed to disrupt and degrade Houthi military capabilities.”
The U.S.-led bombardment — launched in response to a recent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the vital Red Sea — killed at least five people and wounded six, the Houthis said. The U.S. said the strikes took aim at more than 60 targets in 16 different locations across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
As the bombing lit the predawn sky over multiple sites held by the Iranian-backed rebels, it forced the world to again focus on Yemen’s yearslong war, which began when the Houthis seized the country’s capital.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying they were avenging Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade and energy shipments.
The Houthis’ military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said in a recorded address that the strikes would “not go unanswered or unpunished.”
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat and former U.S. intelligence official, welcomed the U.S. strikes but expressed concern Iran was aiming to draw the U.S. deeper into conflict.
“We should be worried about regional escalation,” Slotkin wrote on X. “Iran uses groups like the Houthis to fight their battles, maintain plausible deniability and prevent a direct conflict with the U.S. or others. … It needs to stop, and my hope is they’ve gotten the message.”
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, reported on Friday evening a new missile attack off Yemen. It said the missile was fired toward a ship some 90 miles southeast of Aden, Yemen, while the ship was being followed by three small vessels. The shipmaster reported missiles landing in the water 400 to 500 meters away, but they caused no injures or damage, the organization said.
“Vessels are advised to transit with caution,” it warned.
Though the Biden administration and its allies have tried to calm tensions in the Middle East for weeks and prevent any wider conflict, the strikes threatened to ignite one.
Saudi Arabia — which supports the government-in-exile that the Houthis are fighting — quickly sought to distance itself from the attacks as it seeks to maintain a delicate détente with Iran and a cease-fire it has in Yemen.
It remained unclear how extensive the damage was, though the Houthis said at least five sites, including airfields, had been attacked. The White House said Friday the U.S. military was still assessing the extent the militants’ capabilities might have been degraded.
U.S. Air Forces Central Command said the strikes focused on the Houthi’s command and control nodes, munition depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defense radar systems. The strikes involved more than 100 precision-guided munitions including…
Read More: US-led strikes killed 5 people and wounded 6, Houthi rebels say