Houthis promise to respond to U.S. and U.K. strike in the Red Sea
After two months of attacks by Houthis against international cargo ships and U.S. warships in the Red Sea, the United States and United Kingdom launched a retaliatory strike early Friday morning local time.
The two countries, along with other allies, hit 60 targets at 16 different locations, according to the commander of U.S. air operations in the Middle East, Air Force Lieutenant-General Alex Grynkewich.
Department of Defense's press secretary Major General Patrick Ryder told NPR's Morning Edition that the administration hopes this attack on Houthi targets will put an end to Houthi strikes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
"No one wants to see these strikes continue," Ryder told NPR's Leila Fadel.
The Houthis have ignored two previous ultimatums from the U.S. and other countries and continued their attacks in the region. More than 2,000 ships have had to divert their course to avoid the Red Sea, which is going to cause delays in international shipping for consumers. If the Houthi attacks continue, there is widespread concern that the conflict will expand further into the region and continue to disrupt the global economy.
The Houthis are a military group backed by Iran that have been fighting Yemen's government for about two decades. The group have been ardent supporters of Hamas during the ongoing conflict in the Israel-Hamas war. Since November, the Houthis have launched 27 drone and missile attacks on vessels that they claim are heading toward or leaving Israeli ports.
In response to the attacks, a Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdel Salam said there was absolutely no justification for the strikes.
"They committed foolishness with this treacherous aggression, and they were wrong if they thought that they would deter Yemen from supporting Palestine and Gaza," Salam said.
Ryder says that the attack against the Houthis should not be seen as an expansion of the Israel-Hamas war in this region. Instead, he said it should be seen as an effort to stop the disruption to the global economy.
"What you saw last night was a multinational effort to degrade and disrupt the Houthis ability to conduct these kinds of attacks going forward," he said.
Will the Houthis be deterred by the U.S attacks?
Iran, who has backed the Houthi military for years, said in a statement this attack will not go unchallenged, suggesting that the Houthis will continue their strikes on ships in the region.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein told Morning Edition that the Houthis are unlikely to be deterred by the retaliatory strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom and may even broaden their attacks to include targets in Saudi Arabia or the Red Sea.
"I think that the problem that we have here is that the Houthis wanted the U.S. to attack," Feierstein said.
Feierstein added that the U.S. response also helps the Houthis gain more favor in the region.
"It raises the profile regionally. It makes them part of the A-team of Iran acts of resistance," Feierstein said.
U.S. intelligence shows that Iran has been feeding the Houthis with intelligence about the shipping movements in the Red Sea and been providing weapons to the Houthis for these attacks.
"They are doing this with the tacit consent of Iran," Ryder said. "And so, we'd really call on Iran to direct the Houthis to cease this behavior."
How will this affect everyday Americans?
Both Democrats and Republicans welcomed the strikes on Houthi targets, but some cautioned against escalation into a broader war in the region.
"The United States does not seek an escalation of violence in the region, but we must deter attacks on our troops, and the freedom of navigation that is essential for global trade must be restored," Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said in a statement today.
Attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have large implications for international shipping, which directly affects Americans ability to buy overseas goods. About 10% of global trade and 12% of global oil goes through the Suez Canal.
Reports have shown that containers traveling daily through the Red Sea fell by 60% last month and global trade dropped 1.3% in December.
Marco Forgione, the director general at The Institute of Export and International Trade told Morning Edition that The U.S. and U.K.rather than curbing the Houthi attacks, he thinks this will only exacerbate them, leading to more shipping challenges in the area.
"This is hugely disruptive, inflationary, increases cost and also increases the possibility of their being scarcity of goods and products." Forgione said.
Forgione says that these problems will continue as attacks continue, which is all but guaranteed, considering Iran has said that the strikes will not go unchallenged.
The U.S. in particular will have a bigger problem because of the environmental constraints on the Panama Canal, where droughts have forced vessels to find new routes for cargo.
In the Suez Canal, ships will now have to change their route and go around the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of Africa. This rerouting will add over a million dollars in additional costs and delay shipping by two weeks on goods, affecting manufacturers in the United States according to Forgione.
"A lot of what goes through Suez is actually input - things like oil, iron or gas - feed the industry," Forgione said. "That itself will cause problems as manufacturers find it difficult to source their components for their fuel or oil."
The audio portion of this piece was produced by Ben Abrams and Julie Depenbrock. It was edited by Jacob Conard.
9(MDAxODcyMTgzMDEyMTgxMTY5NjYxN2I4OQ004))
Transcript
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Overnight in Yemen, the U.S. and U.K. carried out airstrikes on over a dozen targets in Houthi-controlled areas. President Biden said the strikes were in response to continued and, quote, "reckless" attacks by the Iran-backed Yemeni military force on commercial ships in the Red Sea. A NATO spokesperson called the strikes defensive and designed to preserve freedom of navigation in one of the world's most vital waterways. The Houthis, though, have vowed to retaliate. Iran condemned the U.S. strikes, and Turkey's president called them a disproportionate use of force and accused the U.S. and the U.K. of trying to turn the Red Sea into a, quote, unquote, "sea of blood." The Department of Defense press secretary, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, is here with us to discuss all this. Good morning, Major General.
PATRICK RYDER: Good morning. Thanks so much for having me.
FADEL: I want to start with these strikes. Is it time to acknowledge that the regional war that the administration has said it does not want is now here?
RYDER: Well, I think it's very important to differentiate what we're seeing in the Israel-Hamas conflict with what we're seeing in the Red Sea. At this point, we have not seen an expansion of that conflict between Israel and Hamas. And again, we're working very hard to to ensure that doesn't happen. What we've seen in the Red Sea...
FADEL: But I'm sorry, Major General, but the Houthis have very specifically said that their actions are connected to the Israel-Hamas war.
RYDER: Yeah, the fact is they've been indiscriminately targeting commercial shipping...
FADEL: Yeah.
RYDER: ...Transiting the Red sea since November. Over 50 countries have been affected by this. And as you know, I mean, it's a vital waterway that - 10 to 15% of the global trade transit this on any given day. So it has been a very dangerous situation. We've issued multiple warnings. Of course, Operation Prosperity Guardian has worked very hard to safeguard commercial shipping and mariners. But in early January, 14 countries plus the United States issued a clear and unambiguous warning that there would be consequences if these illegal and reckless attacks didn't stop.
And so what you saw last night was a multinational effort with the United States, the United Kingdom conducting strikes with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands to degrade and disrupt the Houthis' ability to conduct these kinds of attacks going forward. So certainly, it has been a priority for us since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict to prevent a wider regional conflict. That will continue to be a focus. But this action, these actions by the Houthis are putting innocent lives at risk. It's affecting the global economy. And so it required an international response.
FADEL: Now, there has been concern from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress angry that the administration carried out these airstrikes without consulting them. Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, cited Article 1 of the Constitution, saying Biden was involving the U.S. in another Middle East conflict without consulting Congress as required. Why didn't the administration consult Congress?
RYDER: Well, I'm a Department of Defense spokesperson, so I can talk about Department of Defense activities. And clearly, for for a while now, since November 19, we've seen 27 attacks against commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. And so, you know, we have been taking deliberate, thoughtful steps to deter these types of attacks, but clearly, more needed to be done on that front. Recently, we had U.S. military forces, of course, that were attacked by Houthi rebels that were in the process of attacking a commercial vessel. And so we believe that it was important to, again, work with the international community to send a clear message and to degrade and disrupt their ability to conduct these kinds of attacks in the future.
FADEL: Now, the Houthis have said they will retaliate. Do you expect that the U.S. will carry out more strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in coordination with allies?
RYDER: Well, so far, we have not seen any type of retaliatory action. Of course, we're going to continue to monitor closely. As I'm sure you can appreciate, I can't telegraph or forecast or speculate on potential future operations, but I think the secretary of Defense has been very clear that we'll take further necessary action as appropriate to safeguard the global economy, more importantly, safeguard the lives of mariners that are transiting this region.
FADEL: Now, this has definitely been wreaking economic havoc. It's dangerous. Earlier in the program, we spoke to former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein, who said that, unfortunately, in his view, these strikes may play into exactly what the Houthis wanted. I just want to play a little bit of what he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
GERALD FEIERSTEIN: It raises their profile regionally. It makes them a part of the A-team, if you will, in the Iranian axis of resistance.
FADEL: I just want to get your reaction to that concern that this might embolden and empower the Houthis.
RYDER: Well, again, as I highlighted earlier, we have been very focused on regional deterrence, trying to ensure that the conflict in Israel against Hamas does not widen into a broader conflict. And that, again, will continue to be a focus. But when it comes to the Red Sea and when it comes to the impact that these strikes have had on international commercial shipping and the safety of mariners, this has been an international problem. I mean, their strikes have affected over 50 countries and, as you highlighted, had economic consequences. And so again, we've taken multiple deliberate steps to try to prevent these attacks. But ultimately, at the end of the day, you know, we needed to take some more direct kinetic action to, again, degrade and disrupt their ability to conduct these attacks in the future.
FADEL: Now, you mentioned that there have been repeated warnings that this would happen if it didn't stop. It didn't stop. It's happened. With the Houthis vowing to retaliate, I mean, do you expect that these attacks will let up right away, or will this be a long-term thing?
RYDER: Well, that's certainly up to the Houthis. One would hope that they have received the message. More importantly, we've degraded and disrupted a significant amount of their capability as a result of these strikes. We'll continue to monitor the region and take action as appropriate.
FADEL: I want to ask you one more question before we let you go about really who's behind the Houthis. They are Iran-backed. How much influence does Iran have over the Houthis' actions in the Red Sea? And how much is this independent actors deciding what they want to do with the weapons that are provided to them, mostly from Iran?
RYDER: Yeah, well, we know that Iran funds, trains and equips the Houthis. And so clearly, they have lots of influence over the Houthis. And so, you know, part of this discussion includes ensuring that, you know, Iran...
FADEL: But are they directing their actions in the Red Sea?
RYDER: You know, at the end of the day, the Houthis are going to do what they want to do, but clearly, they're doing this with the tacit approval and support of Iran. And so really, we, again, would call on Iran to cease this, to direct the Houthis to cease this behavior and to ensure that international commerce can transit this international waterway safely and securely.
FADEL: We'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, thank you for your time.
FEIERSTEIN: Thank you, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad