By Al-Fassel | 2024-02-06

The Iran-backed Houthis have launched close to three dozen attacks in the Red Sea since mid-November, indiscriminately targeting commercial vessels with direct links to 55 countries, as well as military ships.

Following a sharp uptick in Houthi military activity last week, US and UK forces late Saturday (February 3) launched a third round of joint strikes targeting the Houthis' weaponry in parts of Yemen the group controls.

The US military continued to conduct strikes into Sunday, targeting six land attack and anti-ship cruise missiles that "presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

The Saturday night strikes, carried out with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand, were directed at 36 Houthi targets in Yemen in 13 separate locations.

"These multilateral coalition strikes focused on targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen used to attack international merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region," CENTCOM said in a statement.

The targets included "multiple underground storage facilities, command and control, missile systems, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) storage and operations sites, radars and helicopters," it said.

"These strikes are intended to degrade Houthi capabilities used to continue their reckless and unlawful attacks on US and UK ships as well as international commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden."

Earlier Saturday, at approximately 7.20pm local time, US forces conducted unilateral strikes in self-defense against six Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea, CENTCOM said.

Persistent attacks

Since November 19, the Houthis have launched more than 30 attacks on commercial shipping and naval vessels, the Pentagon said January 30 -- as other Iranian proxies ramped up their attacks on US forces across the region.

US and allied forces in Iraq, Syria and Jordan have been attacked more than 165 times since mid-October, with many of the attacks claimed by the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups.

On January 28, a drone launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq slammed into a base in Jordan, killing three US soldiers and wounding more than 40.

The United States responded Friday with strikes against dozens of targets at seven Tehran-linked facilities in Iraq and Syria.

The latest US and UK strikes against the Houthis' weaponry in Yemen followed swiftly on the heels of the Friday strikes in Iraq and Syria.

They were preceded by a volley of attacks the Houthis launched in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden last week.

USS Laboon and F/A-18s from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group on Friday engaged and shot down seven drones over the Red Sea.

Also Friday, US forces struck and destroyed four Houthi drones that were prepared to launch, and USS Carney engaged and shot down one drone over the Gulf of Aden, CENTCOM said.

US forces on Thursday shot down a drone over the Gulf of Aden and later destroyed an explosives-laden un-crewed surface vessel belonging to the Houthis that threatened ships in the Red Sea, it said.

The destruction of the surface vessel resulted in "significant secondary explosions" but no reports of damage or injuries.

Also Thursday the Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles, "likely towards" the Liberian-flagged and Bermuda-owned M/V Koi in the Red Sea.

"The missiles impacted in the water without hitting the ship," CENTCOM said.

US forces on Thursday destroyed 10 Houthi drones and a ground control station shortly after midnight local time. And on Wednesday, a US warship shot down a missile fired by the Houthis as well as three Iranian drones.

US forces on Wednesday destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile that CENTCOM said posed an imminent threat to "US aircraft." Previous air raids had focused on reducing the Houthis' ability to threaten international shipping.

Red Sea security

The recent strikes the United States and United Kingdom conducted, with multilateral support, are "separate and distinct from the multinational freedom of navigation actions performed under Operation Prosperity Guardian," the United States has stressed.

Operation Prosperity Guardian is a multinational naval task force, set up by the United States under the auspices of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) to help protect Red Sea shipping from the Houthis' repeated attacks on the transit route.

The European Union (EU) is meanwhile pushing to launch its own naval mission in the Red Sea to help protect international shipping.

EU countries have given initial backing to the plan and are aiming to finalize it during a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on February 19.

In addition to its recent and ongoing military action, the United States has sought to put diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis, re-designating them as a terrorist organization earlier in January.

But the Houthis' attacks have persisted.

As part of the so-called "axis of resistance" of Iranian-backed groups, the Houthis have been harassing Red Sea shipping for months, prompting major shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea.

Container shipping through the Red Sea has dropped by nearly one-third this year as the group's attacks continue, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said January 31.

"Container shipping... has declined by almost 30%," IMF Middle East and Central Asia department director Jihad Azour told AFP, adding that "the drop in trade accelerated in the beginning of this year."

The IMF's PortWatch platform indicates that the total transit volume through the Suez Canal was down 37% this year through January 16 compared with the same period a year earlier.