London and Washington are finalizing plans for a possible air campaign against targets in areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthi rebels to counter their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
Since almost the beginning of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip to exterminate the Hamas terrorist organization, the Houthis pledged their support to the Palestinian resistance with military actions. These included the launching of missiles and drones against targets in the key Israeli port city of Eliat, as well as attacks against “all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, whatever their nationality”, until “Gaza receives the food and medicine it needs”.
As a result of these actions, several merchant ships were damaged by more than 20 missile and drone attacks fired from Houthi-controlled sections of Yemen. But there were also boarding attempts with boats and helicopters, some successful, some failed.
Deadly incident
The United States leads a ten-nation coalition to protect maritime traffic from attacks in the Red Sea, having successfully shot down various types of anti-ship missiles and suicide drones launched against commercial ships or the military vessels protecting them. During the last significant hostile action, the container ship Maersk Hangzhou, which had been damaged by a Houthi missile on December 30, reported the following day that four heavily armed Yemeni speedboats were attempting to board them.
Iranian-backed Houthi small boats attack merchant vessel and U.S. Navy helicopters in Southern Red Sea
On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed… pic.twitter.com/pj8NAzjbVF
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2023
In response to the distress call, MH-60S/R Sea Hawk helicopters from the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower (CVN 69) and the destroyer Gravely (DDG 107) intercepted the Yemeni vessels. These apparently attempted to drive off the U.S. aircraft with weapon fire, but U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire (including firing Hellfire missiles), sinking three of the four small boats and killing 10 of their crewmen. The fourth boat fled the area.
The last warning
According to government sources consulted by The Telegraph, the joint statement being prepared by the United States and the United Kingdom would be a “final verbal warning” to the Houthis. Talks were underway Sunday night for at least two other nations to sign it as well, in order to give the ultimatum a more “international” flavour.
The Houthis are not known for retreating at the first sign of trouble, and the attack on their positions, which is likely to involve the use of cruise missiles and combat aircraft (and perhaps a measured use of special forces in coastal areas), is likely to begin in the next few days.
But there are legitimate doubts about the feasibility that this plan will work and can significantly lessen the danger to commercial shipping in the Red Sea, as the Houthis have been fighting and resisting for years against the overwhelming military superiority of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose heavy bombing campaigns couldn’t do enough to break their fighting spirit.
