(Washington) The United States and the United Kingdom, supported in particular by Canada, carried out “successful” strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, American President Joe Biden said on Thursday, after weeks of attacks carried out by these rebels on ships in the Red Sea.
The airstrikes were carried out on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and other rebel-controlled towns in Hodeidah and Sadaa, Houthi television channel Al-Massirah said on Friday.
AFP correspondents in these three cities said they heard several explosions.
The United States and the United Kingdom had the support of Canada, the Netherlands, Bahrain and Australia to carry out these strikes, specifies a press release from the White House.
The American-British operation was carried out “in direct response to the unprecedented attacks by the Houthis on international ships in the Red Sea,” Joe Biden said in a statement, referring to a “defensive” action.
The US president further warned that he “would not hesitate” to “order further measures” if necessary to protect America and international trade.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke of “necessary” and “proportionate” strikes.
Saudi Arabia said it was following developments with “concern”.
The kingdom “follows with great concern the military operations in the Red Sea and the airstrikes on a number of sites” in Yemen, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling “for restraint and to avoid climbing “.
The strikes involved fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles, several American media reported. They benefited from “support” from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, the White House said.
“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our troops or allow hostile actors to endanger freedom of navigation across one of the most important trade routes. important in the world,” said the American president.
The strikes targeted radar and drone and missile infrastructure to reduce their ability to attack merchant ships in the Red Sea, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday.
“This operation is intended to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ ability to endanger sailors and threaten international commerce in one of the world’s most important maritime passages,” the Pentagon chief said in a statement. .
White House spokesman John Kirby said earlier that the United States would do what it takes “to counter and disarm these threats that the Houthis pose to maritime traffic in the Red Sea.”
International Coalition
The leader of Yemen’s rebels, Abdel Malek al-Houthi, threatened Thursday to respond to any American attack in the Red Sea with even “more important” operations than the particularly heavy one dating from Tuesday.
18 drones and three missiles were then shot down by three American destroyers, a British ship HMS Diamond and by combat aircraft deployed from the American aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower.
US NAVY PHOTO BY REUTERS
The American aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Houthis, close to Iran and who control a large part of Yemen, have increased attacks recently, by missiles and drones in the Red Sea, near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait separating the Arabian Peninsula from Africa.
They say they are targeting commercial ships they suspect of being linked to Israel, claiming to act in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, the scene of a devastating war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
In response, the United States had already deployed warships and set up an international coalition in December to protect maritime traffic in this area where 12% of world trade passes.
Some shipowners are now bypassing the area, which has increased transport costs between Europe and Asia.
The Red Sea is not, far from it, the only hot spot in the region for the United States, which has firmly supported Israel since the bloody Hamas attack on October 7.
Since October, American forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked 130 times, according to the Pentagon.
The United States has around 2,500 troops in Iraq, and 900 in Syria, deployed with the aim of preventing a reconstitution of the jihadist group Islamic State.
Last week, the leader of a pro-Iranian faction was killed in Baghdad by an American strike, which aroused the indignation of the Iraqi government, itself supported by parties close to Iran.
The Iraqi Prime Minister subsequently expressed his “firm” determination to put an end to the presence in Iraq of the international anti-jihadist coalition.
With Alice Girard-Bossé, The Press