USA y United Kingdom They have attacked more than 12 military installations of Yemen’s Houthi militias, with aircraft and cruise missiles. Washington y London have bombed missile and drone radars, depots and launch centers with which the Houthis have carried out at least 27 attacks against merchant ships from third countries since the war broke out in October between the terrorist group Hamas — an ally of Iran and, therefore, of the Houthis — and Israel, who is supported by the US and most of West. It is the first US attack against the Houthis since October 2016, when Barack Obama he was president.
The bombings are a new escalation in a war that threatens to spread beyond Gaza. Until now, the Government of Joe Biden had tried by all means to prevent the Gaza conflict from spreading, and had been responding in a very limited way to the more than one hundred attacks that its Armed forces have suffered in Irak y Syria at the hands of pro-Iranian militias.
But the situation in the Strait of Bab El-Mandeb, at the entrance of Red Sea, through which more than 10% of the world’s maritime freight traffic passes, appears to have forced Washington to take direct action. And this has been significant. Own Biden threatens more bombings and states: “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international trade as necessary.”
The US and Great Britain have used cruise missiles and aircraft in the bombings, although at the moment there are no further details about the military actions. It is expected that in the next few hours the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan give a press conference in Washington.
The bombings took place a few hours after the Houthis launched a new ballistic missile, which was intercepted, against a merchant ship sailing through international waters. The use of ballistic missiles – which describe an arc before falling on their target and have greater destructive power – to attack ships is a novelty in this war, since until now only China and Iran had tested these types of weapons, and always in times of peace. Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Supreme Political Council of the Houthis, said this Friday that the attacks by the United States and Great Britain against Yemen are “barbaric.”