Red Sea attacks: US weighs striking Houthi rebels in Yemen
- Question is whether to hit Iran-allied Houthi militant group in its base in Yemen
- Saudis are among those worried about provoking a broader regional conflict
The US and its allies are considering possible military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, in a recognition that a newly announced maritime task force meant to protect commercial ships in the Red Sea may not be enough to eliminate the threat to the vital waterway.
Planning is under way for actions intended to cripple the Houthis’ ability to target commercial ships by hitting the militant group at the source, according to four people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations.
They underscored that the US still wants diplomacy to work and hasn’t decided to go ahead.
Even so, one of the people said the Pentagon is preparing to offer US President Joe Biden the possibility of what was described as a “heavy” response to the Iran-backed militants.
Asked Tuesday about possible military action, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he wouldn’t “telegraph any punches one way or the other”.
The quickening discussions reflect a belief that the US and allies may need to do more to protect commercial trade passing through the Red Sea after a wave of Houthi attacks prompted a number of major companies to reroute their vessels around the southern tip of Africa, a lengthier and thus costlier journey.
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Strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, where they are based, would be fraught with risks. Among the biggest: the potential for a broader regional conflict – exactly the outcome the Biden administration has sought to avoid after Israel launched its ground campaign against Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip in response to the group’s October 7 attack in southern Israel.
US allies in the region are also wary. Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen, backs a more measured, diplomatic approach to the rebels because it fears it would become a target of renewed aggression from the Houthis, as the kingdom was before a truce in Yemen’s civil war in early 2022, Bloomberg News has reported.
“The hard thing is, nobody wants to get involved in an open-ended war in the Middle East,” said Jon Alterman, a senior vice-president at the Centre for International and Strategic Studies. “But how do you know that the Houthis wouldn’t welcome being in an open-ended war with the United States, because that’s a pretty prestigious adversary to consistently frustrate?”
Attacks would also bring the US closer to confrontation with Iran, which US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said recently is providing “significant” military and intelligence support to the Houthis.
The Biden administration has “not ruled out the possibility of taking military action” against the Houthis but is focused for now on assembling a maritime coalition to secure the Red Sea, Finer said in a speech in Washington on December 7. The Pentagon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The multinational task force was announced by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday in the effort to help protect ships travelling through the Red Sea. Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, rejected Tuesday the notion that it won’t deter the Houthis.
“There’s going to be a whole lot of hardware in the Red Sea now, naval hardware, not just from the United States” but “other ships from other nations to counter these threats,” he said. “So let’s see where it goes.”
Although the new task force offers a show of unity – symbolised by its designation as Operation Prosperity Guardian – pressure is mounting on the Biden administration to do more. According to one of the people, the US needs to send a clear message that threats to freedom of navigation can’t be tolerated.
“The Houthis have rightly gauged Biden administration risk tolerance, which is very low,” said Kori Schake, director of foreign and defence policy at the American Enterprise Institute. “This is one more example of the US moving troops around to signal commitment when we’re actually not committed.”
‘Fragile’ Saudi peace efforts hamper US response to Houthi attacks in Red Sea
But the threat of spurring a wider conflict remains, including for Saudi Arabia, which had US military aid in its efforts to defeat the Houthis in Yemen’s civil war. In 2019, the militants claimed a drone and missile attack that briefly knocked out half the kingdom’s oil production.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
The Saudi readout of the call focused on the war in Gaza, but the US summary also emphasised the Houthi threat. It said Blinken “condemned continued attacks by the Houthis on commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea and urged cooperation among all partners to uphold maritime security”.
Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for more aggressive US action Monday. “What exactly would a task force accomplish?” he said in a statement. “The continuing threat posed to American sailors and freedom of navigation could soon lead to a catastrophe unless the Biden administration acts with the resolve that it has so far sorely lacked.”
