United States and Great Britain they launched attacks against Houthi bases in Yemen. Eight other allied countries are also involved, including the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Bahrain, which are expected to provide logistics, intelligence and other support. The attack, they say, is aimed at weakening the Houthis' ability to attack shipping in the Red Sea, as has happened in recent weeks.
US and UK attack Houthis in Yemen
The attacks, a US official told CNN, which took place during the night between Thursday and Friday, were carried out in particular with fighter planes and Tomahawk missiles and hit over a dozen Houthi targets from sky, earth and sea. These include radar systems, depots and launch sites for drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
Biden: “It is the direct response to the Houthi attacks”
“Today, on my orders, US military forces, together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to put freedom of navigation is at risk in one of the most vital waterways in the world" (the Red Sea, ed.). These are the words of Joe Biden. Through a note the White House explained that this is the “direct response to attacks Houthis” and that he will not hesitate “to take uFurther measures to protect our people and the free flow of international trade, if necessary.”
The Houthis' response
“We have not targeted any country in the world except Israel,” the Houthis' official spokesman, Muhammad Abdul Salam, told Al Jazeera. “The military has given an initial response and we will expand it very soon. CWe will continue to target Israeli ships directed towards them until the end of the aggression against Gaza." The attacks caused "the death of five fighters and the wounding of six others", according to the Houthi spokesperson, quoted by the Russian state agency Tass. According to Muhammad Abdul Salam, the USA and Great Britain launched 73 attacks on Yemeni territory. “They will not go unanswered.”
The announcement of the 10 countries: “Ease tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea”
“Our objective remains to ease tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea“the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and South Korea said in a joint statement.
“But let our message be clear: we will not hesitate to defend lives and ensure the free flow of trade in one of the world's most critical waterways, in the face of ongoing threats,” the statement continues.
In the statement, the 10 countries also say that “the precision strikes were intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis they use to threaten global trade and the lives of international sailors.”
The statement goes on to underline that the Houthi attacks against merchant ships that began in mid-November “constitute an international challenge” and “today's action demonstrates a shared commitment to freedom of navigation, international trade and the defense of sailors' lives from illegal and unjustifiable attacks."
Reuters: “Italy refused to participate”, but Palazzo Chigi denies it
According to Reuters, which cites a government source, Italy refused to participate in the American and British attacks overnight against the Houthi group in Yemen. Rome, the news agency explained, preferred to pursue a policy "that calms" the situation in the Red Sea. Reuters writes it.
The Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani, also spoke on the issue. The minister explained that Italy was informed by the United States of the raids on the Houthi military positions but that if it wanted to take part in them it would have to have the approval of Parliament. “Italy cannot participate in the raids without the approval of Parliament”.
In the meantime, the indiscretion launched by Reuters has been flatly denied by Palazzo Chigi. Government sources have clarified that Italy was asked to sign the joint declaration with the United States, the United Kingdom and other allied countries (which the government in Rome did not sign) but was never asked to participate in the bombings in Yemen. “We work – explain the same sources – to keep tension low in the Red Sea and we are committed to the European coalition to guarantee free movement of ships in the area”.
The reactions of Saudi Arabia, Hamas, Russia and Iran
“The Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia follows with great concern the military operations taking place in the Red Sea region and the air strikes on a series of sites in the Republic of Yemen", reads a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh, which calls for "self-control and to avoid an escalation”.
“This aggression indicates the decision to expand the area of conflict outside the Strip. This will have consequences,” the representative said, quoted by the media Hamas, Sami Abu Zhouri. “The aggression of the USA and Great Britain against sectors of the Yemeni army, because it has sided with Gaza, is – he underlined – a provocation against the Palestinian nation”.
Moscow condemned the attacks against the Houthi rebels, denouncing an action that leads to an "escalation" and which has "destructive objectives". “The US attacks in Yemen are a new example of the Anglo-Saxons' distortion of UN Security Council resolutions and total disregard for international law in the name of escalation in the region to achieve their destructive goals,” he wrote the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, on Telegram. Russia has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, the Russian permanent mission to the UN announced on Telegram, as reported by Tass.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ofIran, Nasser Kanani, "strongly condemned the US and UK attacks on various cities in Yemen, deeming them an arbitrary action, a clear violation of Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of international law and regulations." As Tehran's Foreign Ministry reports on X, Kanani said that "the only result of the attacks will be to create instability in the region". Linking the raids to US support for Israel, the official called on the international community to "stop the war from spreading."
(Last update: 15.20pm on Friday 12 January).
