US unleashes strikes across Middle East

A member of the Houthi political bureau, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, has said the fact that only two countries – the US and UK – have so far been actually carrying out strikes on Yemen is a sign of differences among members of the American-led coalition in the Red Sea.

Bukhaiti described the attacks that have taken place so far as “ineffectual” and warned that “the spillover of the [conflict in Gaza] will inevitably result in an end to US hegemony across the region,” PRESS TV has reported.

A RAF Typhoon aircraft at an airbase in Cyprus. ©  British Defense Ministry

The Houthi foreign ministry has condemned the latest US and UK strikes on Yemen, saying that the continuing “aggression” by Washington and London points to the UN Security Council’s failure to take on its responsibilities.

The attacks by the Americans and the British are intended to distract the public from Israeli “defeats as they perpetrate atrocities against ordinary people and civilians in Gaza,” it said.

”These assaults won’t ever make the Republic of Yemen do a volte-face on its humanitarian and ethical duties concerning Palestinians and their cause,” the ministry stressed.

The US and UK will not achieve their goals by striking Yemen, but will only “increase their issues and problems at the regional level,” Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam has said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).

The strikes will not affect the group’s decision to support the Palestinians in Gaza while Israel continues its attacks, he insisted. Abdul Salam also said that Houthi military capabilities “are not easy to destroy and have been rebuilt during years of harsh war.”

Instead of further escalating tensions, Washington and London should instead “submit to international public opinion, which demands an immediate halt to the Israeli aggression, lift the siege on Gaza and stop protecting Israel at the expense of the Palestinian people,” the spokesman stressed.

The Houthis could sabotage a network of submarine cables in the Red Sea, estimated to carry 17% of global internet traffic, the Guardian has reported, citing telecom firms linked to Yemen’s UN-recognized government.

The warning came after a Houthi-linked Telegram channel recently posted a map of cables running along the bottom of the Red Sea. “There are maps of international cables connecting all regions of the world through the sea. It seems that Yemen is in a strategic location, as internet lines that connect entire continents – not only countries – pass near it,” the caption to the image read.

The information minister in Yemen’s Aden-based government, Moammar al-Eryani, also told the paper that the Houthis posed a serious threat to “one of the most important digital infrastructures in the world.”

Tehran has warned Washington and London against testing the “wrath of the region,” adding that Iran strongly condemns their “military attacks on Yemen and the US aggression on Iraq and Syria,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone conversation with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, in which the diplomats discussed the ongoing “international action to hold the Houthis accountable for their illegal and reckless attacks on vessels,” situation in the Red Sea following the latest joint airstrikes in Yemen, the State Department said in a statement on Sunday night.

British PM Rishi Sunak has defended the latest wave of airstrikes in Yemen over the weekend, calling it a “proportionate” act of “self-defense” against the Houthi rebels.  

“Since the last set of strikes, we have seen the Houthis continue to attack shipping in the Red Sea,” he told reporters on Sunday. “That is obviously unacceptable, it is illegal. It puts innocent people’s lives at risk and it has economic consequences.”

“I have been clear that I won’t hesitate to protect British lives, British interests and our diplomatic efforts are focused on bringing de-escalation and stability back to the region,” he added.

The Pentagon has unveiled additional details of its “self-defense” strikes in Yemen over the course of Sunday, claiming to have hit at least one land attack missile and four anti-ship cruise missiles.

”US forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

The US-led coalition allegedly launched several new strikes on Sunday evening targeting the Yemeni cities of Hodeidah and Saada, according to Houthi-affiliated media outlet Al Masirah TV. The US authorities have yet to confirm the raids, but previously said that airstrikes on Syria, Iraq and Yemen over the weekend were only the “first round” of Washington’s military response.

The US Central Command has published a video of multiple missile launches from American warships deployed in the Red Sea against alleged Houthi targets in Yemen, although the date of that particular strike remains unclear.