Raketenangriffe auf Huthi-Kräfte im Jemen 2024

On the morning of 12 January 2024, the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands and South Korea, launched a series of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen, one day after a United Nations Security Council resolution condemned Houthi aggression in the Red Sea.

The American president, Joe Biden, said he ordered the strikes while the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, convened his cabinet to authorise British participation. They came in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which themselves were in response to the Israel–Hamas war in support of Palestine.

American officials said the strikes were intended to degrade Houthi capabilities to attack Red Sea targets rather than to kill leaders and Iranian trainers; the Houthis said at least five were killed and six wounded.

Background

On February 16, 2021, the Biden administration removed Ansar Allah, the formal political and military organization of the Houthi movement, from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) blacklist, due to concerns that the designation would impede the delivery of humanitarian aid amid Yemen's worsening political and socioeconomic crisis, as the Houthis controlled much of the country's territory. In April 2022, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), which, despite formally lapsing the following October, continued to hold for at least another year.

With the start of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023 the Iranian-backed,Vorlage:Efn Houthi-controlled Supreme Political Council declared its support for Hamas and began launching attacks on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, especially in the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. While the Houthis initially claimed to target only commercial ships bound for Israeli ports or with some link to Israel, they soon began indiscriminately targeting vessels, attempting attacks on ships with no discernible Israeli ties. To launch attacks on Red Sea shipping, the Houthis use coastal missile batteries, loitering munitions and fast attack craft armed with light autocannons, machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

Before the attack on the Hangzhou, the United States had shot down a total of 24 Houthi missiles and drones and deployed naval ships to protect Red Sea shipping lanes but had not engaged directly with the Houthis.

On 3 January, the United States and a group of countries issued a final ultimatum to the Houthis to stop their activities that undermine freedom of navigation. In the days leading up to the strike, members of U.S. Congress and the Pentagon demanded a strong and deterrent response to the Houthis. One day before the airstrikes, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning Houthi aggression in the Red Sea.

Events

A US Navy F/A-18 taking off prior to the airstrikes

Tomahawk missiles being launched from a U.S. destroyer

The strikes began about 2:30am Yemen time (11:30pm UTC). American fighter jets carrying precision-guided bombs were deployed from bases in the region and from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier. Surface ships and the USS Florida submarine launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. The BBC reported four Royal Air Force Typhoon jets deployed from the RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus participated in the strike. The U.S. Air Forces Central announced that U.S. and coalition forces had used over 100 munitions to strike more than 60 targets at 16 locations.

The U.K. Defence Ministry announced that it had targeted two sites. The first site, located at Bani in northwestern Yemen, was used to launch reconnaissance and attack drones. The second site was the Abbs airfield, which, according to the MoD, had been utilized for launching both cruise missiles and drones over the Red Sea.

Explosions were reported in Sanaa, Hodeidah and Dhamar. The targets included logistics centres, air defense systems and weapons storage sites. According to a Houthi-run news channel, Hodeida International Airport, Taiz International Airport, the al-Dailami Air Base north of Sanaa, an airport near Hajjah and a camp east of Saada were hit.

Reactions

Domestic

Houthi deputy foreign minister, Hussein al-Izzi, called the attacks "blatant aggression" and said the U.S. and UK would "pay a heavy price" in an interview with Al-Masirah. Similarly, high-ranking Houthi official Ali al-Qahoum vowed there would be retaliation. Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the group, announced that the Houthis would continue to target Israeli ships or any ships heading to "the ports of occupied Palestine," saying that the U.S. and UK were wrong to think that the strikes "would deter Yemen from supporting Palestine and Gaza".

United States

Reactions in Congress were mixed, with some supporting the airstrikes and others condemning Biden for using military force without congressional approval. Some critics claimed that, in accordance with Article 1 of the Constitution, Biden needed to seek authorization from Congress before initiating military action, though the 1973 War Powers Resolution allows the president to unilaterally take military action but must notify Congress within 48 hours. The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, welcomed the action but said the president's decision was overdue.

Biden stated, "Today’s defensive action follows this extensive diplomatic campaign and Houthi rebels’ escalating attacks against commercial vessels" and "I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary".

Protesters from Code Pink and the ANSWER Coalition gathered outside the White House several hours after the strikes, chanting "let Yemen live" and "hands off Yemen". In New York City, pro-Palestinian protestors gathered at Times Square, chanting "hands off the Middle East", "hands off Yemen" and "hands off Gaza".

United Kingdom

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the strikes stemmed from the principle of self-defence. He also confirmed that the UK received non-operational assistance and support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain.

The UK noted that initial indications suggest that the Houthis' ability to threaten commercial shipping has "taken a blow". Two parties, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party of England and Wales, criticized the government for bypassing parliament, while the leader of the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons, Stephen Flynn, said "It is incumbent upon the UK Government to appraise Parliament as soon as possible and MPs must therefore be recalled to Westminster".

Other countries

• Vorlage:Country: China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning urged restraint.
• Vorlage:Country: According to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the German government expressed its political support for the military strike carried out "in accordance with the individual and collective right to self-defense of the United Nations Charter".
• Vorlage:Country: Iran's foreign ministry condemned the strikes as a "clear violation of Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and a violation of international laws.
• Vorlage:Country: Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova condemned the attack. Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the airstrikes "illegitimate" under international law but also called on the Houthis to stop attacking commercial vessels, which he described as “extremely wrong.”
• Vorlage:Country: Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry called for restraint.
• Vorlage:Country: President Erdoğan accused the United Kingdom of attempting to make the region surrounding the Red Sea "a sea of blood".

Militant groups

• Vorlage:Flag: Hezbollah Media Relation Office condemned "the blatant US-UK aggression against brotherly Yemen, its security and sovereignty”.
• Vorlage:Flag: Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri said in a press statement on Friday that “the US-UK aggression against the Yemeni forces’ sites provokes the entire nation and indicates the intention to expand the conflict zone beyond Gaza’s boundaries, which has repercussions”.
• Vorlage:Flag: in a press statement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad expressed support for the Houthis and argued that "this aggression comes as part of the US and UK military aid to Israel and proves that the US administration is the one responsible for the Israeli genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza".
• Prior to the strikes, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said that if Yemen is attacked by the U.S. and UK, "we will attack the Americans' base with everything in our power". After the attack, there were reports of a bomb and sirens being heard at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq after the U.S. and Britain began their attack.