by The United States and Britain carried out large-scale military strikes on Monday against eight sites in Yemen controlled by Houthi militants, according to the two countries. The attacks indicated that the Biden administration intends to wage a sustained and, at least for now, open campaign against the Iran-backed group that has disrupted traffic on vital international shipping routes.
The strikes, the eighth in nearly two weeks, hit multiple targets at each site and were larger and broader than a recent series of more limited attacks on individual Houthi missiles that the Americans said came on short notice. Those missiles were hit before they could be fired at ships in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.
But the night strikes planned for Monday, which hit radars as well as drone and missile sites and underground weapons storage bunkers, were smaller than the first retaliatory salvos on Jan. 11. They hit more than 60 targets at nearly 30 sites across Yemen in an expansion of the Middle East conflict that the Biden administration had sought to avoid.
This middle ground reflects the administration’s attempt to undermine the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant and military vessels, but without attacking with such force as to kill large numbers of Houthi fighters and commanders, and potentially unleash even more chaos. in a region that is already reeling. on the brink of a broader war.
“Let us reiterate our warning to Houthi leaders: we will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways in the face of an ongoing threat,” the US and British governments said in a statement.
They were joined in the statement by the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Bahrain, which, as they did in the January 11 attacks, also participated by providing logistics, intelligence and other support, according to US officials.
Taken together, however, the U.S.-led strikes, in an operation the military calls Poseidon Archer, have so far failed to deter the Houthis from attacking sea routes to and from the Suez Canal that are critical for trade. world. The Iran-backed group says it will maintain its attacks in what it says is a protest against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza against Hamas.
Indeed, the Houthis remained defiant on Monday after attacks by the Navy’s carrier-based FA-18 fighter jets, Tomahawk cruise missiles and British Typhoon fighter jets. “Retaliation against US and British attacks is inevitable, and any new aggression will not go unpunished,” a Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement before the latest US attacks.
The Houthis claimed on Monday to have attacked a US military cargo ship, the Ocean Jazz, in the Gulf of Aden, but the White House and Pentagon denied such an attack had occurred.
President Biden said on Thursday that US airstrikes against the Houthis would continue. “Are they stopping the Houthis? No,” Biden said. “Are they going to continue? Yeah.”
On Sunday, Jon Finer, deputy national security adviser, offered a glimpse into the administration’s emerging strategy toward the Houthis, forged in several high-level meetings at the White House in recent days, senior U.S. officials said.
“They have advanced weapons stockpiles that in many cases were provided to them, or enabled in many cases, by Iran,” Finer said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “We are removing these reserves so that they cannot carry out as many attacks over time. “That will take time to develop.”
The US-led air and naval strikes began in response to more than two dozen Houthi drone and missile attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November. The administration and several allies had repeatedly warned the Houthis of serious consequences if the bombing did not stop.
But two U.S. officials warned, a few days after the air campaign began, that despite hitting more Houthi missile and drone targets with more than 150 precision-guided munitions, the strikes had damaged or destroyed only about 20 to 30 percent of them. percent of the Houthis’ offensive capacity. much of which is mounted on moving platforms and can be easily moved or hidden.
A third senior official said Monday that figure may have increased by as much as 30 to 40 percent after at least 25 to 30 precision-guided munitions successfully hit their targets on Monday. But other U.S. intelligence officials who have been briefed on the size and scope of the Houthis’ arsenal say analysts aren’t sure how much weaponry the group started with.
US and other Western intelligence agencies have not devoted significant time or resources in recent years to collecting data on the location of air defenses, command centers, ammunition depots, and weapons storage and production facilities. Houthi drones and missiles, officials said.
That changed quickly after Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7 and Houthi attacks on commercial ships a month later. American analysts have been quick to catalog more potential Houthi targets every day, officials said. That effort produced many of the goals achieved on Jan. 11 and Monday, officials said.
Many Republicans in Congress and some former top U.S. military officials say the approach is not working.
“The key is that we have to hurt the Houthis to the point that they stop,” Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., retired head of the military’s Central Command, said in an interview. “We haven’t done it yet.”
Vivian Nereim contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
