Why have UK, US attacked Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen? Will this lead to wider conflict in West Asia?

The tensions in West Asia are escalating. The United States and its allies are now in the thick of things. The US and Britain launched airstrikes against sites in Yemen controlled by the Houthis. This is the first strike on the country since the Iran-backed militia started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea last year.

There were several explosions throughout Yemen as multiple Houthi targets were hit. The response comes after the US and its allies warned the rebel group of the consequences if they did not stop the drone and missile attacks on commercial shipping.

US president Joe Biden said that the strikes against the Houthis were “defensive”. “Today, at my direction, 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 endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways,” the president said in a statement released by the White House.

He also warned of further measures if the Iran-backed rebels keep attacking ships.

We take a look at why the Houthis started attacking ships in the Red Sea and what the response from the US and its allies means for the region where the Israel-Hamas war continues to rage on.

Why are Houthi rebels attacking ships in the Red Sea?

The Houthis are an armed group from the Zaidis, a sub-sect of Yemen’s Shia Muslim minority. They now control most of Yemen. They consider Iran an ally and are suspected of receiving weapons from it Saudi Arabia is their common enemy.

The rebel group has been carrying out sporadic attacks on ships in the region over time but the strikes increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The militant group declared their support for Hamas, saying that they would target any ship travelling to Israel. But few of their targets have had direct links to the Jewish nation.

The attacks by the Houthi rebels further spiked after an explosion on 17 October at a Gaza hospital that killed and injured many. After the blast, an intense militant campaign started against US bases in Iraq and Syria and on several commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.

The attacks have affected commercial ships and forced international shipping companies to divert their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope.

The Houthis defied calls by the United Nations and other international groups to halt their missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping routes. Even warnings from the United States of consequences have been ignored.

The group has attacked 27 ships so far, disrupting international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15 per cent of the world’s shipping traffic, reports Reuters.

Why have the US, its allies launched strikes against Houthis?

While the US carried out airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria that have targeted American troops in 130 attacks since 17 October, until Thursday the military had not yet retaliated against the Houthis.

That reluctance reflects political sensitivities and stems largely from broader Biden administration concerns about upending the shaky truce in Yemen between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia and triggering a wider conflict in the region. The White House wants to preserve the truce and is wary of taking action that could open up another war front, reports AP.

After previous warnings, the US and its allies struck against sites linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen.

A Houthi official confirmed “raids” in the capital Sanaa along with the cities of Saada and Dhamar as well as in the Hodeidah governorate, calling them “American-Zionist-British aggression”, reports Reuters.

An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the strikes were being carried out by aircraft, ship and submarine. The official said more than a dozen locations were targeted and the strikes were intended to weaken the Houthi’s military capabilities and were not just symbolic.

Also read: How US and UK foiled ‘largest Houthi attack’ in Red Sea

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation,” President Biden said in a statement.

The airstrikes were “necessary and proportionate”, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said. “Despite the repeated warnings from the international community, the Houthis have continued to carry out attacks in the Red Sea,” Sunak said in a statement. “We have therefore taken limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence, alongside the United States… to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping.”

Will the US, the UK strikes stop further Red Sea attacks?

Houthi forces launched retaliatory attacks on US and UK warships in the Red Sea after the assault by the US and its partners, a senior member of the group claimed early Friday, reports CNN.

The Houthi deputy foreign minister Hussein Al-Ezzi warned that the US and Britain would face severe repercussions for what he termed a blatant act of aggression. “Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines, and warplanes, and America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression,” he said.

Could the strikes lead to a wider conflict in West Asia?

The strikes are an indication of growing international concern over the threat to one of the most critical water routes in the world.

The Red Sea is used to transport 15 per cent of the world’s shipping traffic and most of the world’s oil and gas comes from the region. The Houthi attacks have hit trade flow and if the crisis continues, the rise in the cost of oils and goods is likely to affect consumers.

Also read: How Houthi attacks in the Red Sea could affect everyday life

The US and the allies hope that the overnight airstrikes will dissuade them from attacks on global shipping. But it seems unlikely.

“The Houthis, armed, trained and provided with intelligence by Iran, have been sounding increasingly defiant. They have managed to successfully portray themselves as defenders of Hamas and the Palestinians and an adversary of Israel – something that plays well with popular Arab opinion, given the Israeli decimation of so much of Gaza. This is not a stance they will give up lightly,” writes BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner.

Iran’s foreign ministry has condemned the strikes as a “clear violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and a violation of international laws. The attacks “will have no result other than fuelling insecurity and instability in the region”, the ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanani said.

Saudi Arabia, a close US military partner which is in a truce with the Houthis following years of war, expressed deep concern over the security situation in the Red Sea and urged restraint, reports CNN.

The environment in West Asia is volatile. The retaliation to the strikes and a wider regional conflict is a real possibility.

With inputs from agencies