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theguardian.com
Britain warns of severe consequences after Houthi attack in Red Sea repelled
Patrick Wintour
Britain has warned of severe consequences after US and UK warships repelled a barrage of 20 Houthi rockets, drones and cruise missiles fired at ships in the Red Sea.
It was the most sustained and complex assault by the Iranian-backed group since the Houthi force governing Yemen from the capital, Sana’a, launched its attacks.
There have been than 20 attacks since mid-October, deterring a large number of shipping companies from using the Red Sea naval route and pushing up prices.
Grant Shapps, the UK defence secretary, said: “The attacks launched by the Houthis are unacceptable and their consequences will be severe.”
A UN security council resolution condemning the Houthi actions, but not authorising the use of force, is due to be passed in New York on Wednesday. It is unclear whether any other country, particularly France, will be willing to join what could be joint US-UK reprisals against the Houthis.
A military spokesperson for the Houthis, once seen as a minor localised military force, said in a statement the attacks would continue “until the siege of Gaza is lifted”.
American and British forces said they shot down 18 drones and three missiles on Tuesday. “Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs … anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the southern Red Sea,” the US Central Command (Centcom) said.
The drones and missiles were downed by a combination of F/A-18 warplanes operating from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier and one British and three American destroyers, Centcom said, adding that there were no injuries or damage reported.
Royal Navy personnel in action
Royal Navy personnel in action against a Houthi attack in the Red Sea. Photograph: Owen Cooban/Ministry of Defence
The US set up a multinational naval taskforce last month to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, which are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12% of global trade.
Shapps said the HMS Diamond “repelled the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date”. He added that the ship, described by the Royal Navy as “a jewel in the naval crown”, destroyed multiple attack drones with guns and Sea Viper missiles.
The US said no Iranian ships were involved in the attack.
Last week, 12 countries led by the US warned the Houthis there would be direct consequences if the attacks undermining freedom of navigation along the busiest waterways in the world were not brought to an end.
The Houthis formally rejected the western demand in a letter to the UN, and followed this up with a military assault that reduced the options available to Centcom.
Plans to designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation, a designation lifted by the US president, Joe Biden, at the start of his term in office, have fallen away as an alternative response.
The Houthi military spokesperson said: “We carried out an operation with a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones targeting an American ship that was providing support [to Israel]. The operation came as a preliminary response to the treacherous attack on our naval forces by the American enemy.”
He added: “The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Arab and Red Seas until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip is lifted. The Yemeni armed forces confirm their full commitment to the continuation of shipping traffic in the Red and Arabian Seas to all destinations except the ports of occupied Palestine.”
Western officials are discussing which countries might be prepared to be part of military action against Yemen, with most attention focused one whether French ships would join an attack on coastal radars.
One issue under discussion is whether the US would mount a single punitive attack or a longer-term campaign to identify the mobile sites from which Houthis are firing missiles.
Whitehall estimates based on shipping industry forecasts suggest the global impact of extended disruption to shipping could lead to a 0.2-0.5% rise in inflation, with the impact most severe on the finances of Egypt due to the loss of commercial shipping through the Suez canal.
The UK has long been convinced that Iran is arming and training the Houthis but says the Houthis are not taking this action on the instruction of Tehran.
Privately, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that have battled with the Houthis in the nine-year Yemen civil war, are said to be sympathetic to military action against the Houthis but are wary of being seen to support US-led military action against a group that has won extensive popular support for its acts of solidarity with Gaza.
The UK has been busy diplomatically with Oman and Iran, the two countries with direct influence over the Houthis, to press home the message that Houthi activity is unacceptable and, if it continues, jeopardises the Yemen peace plan being taken forward.
It is argued that Houthi actions undermine the chances that the Houthis will ever be seen as a responsible actor on the world stage capable of forming part of a government in Yemen with the UN-recognised government in the South.
The warnings over the suspension of the peace process, which follow talks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia last year, are probably regarded as the best leverage the west has over the Houthis apart from military action and sanctions.
The first six-month stage of the peace plan would include the payment of outstanding salaries to tens of thousands of public sector staff based on 2014 payrolls and funded by Saudi Arabia. A military disruption would also eat into the revenues the Houthis receive in form of customs and taxes worth more than $1bn a year imposed on ships entering the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah.
But the Houthis, an authoritarian Shia government, believe they have the support of Yemen after mobilising tens of thousands of Yemenis to demonstrate in solidarity in Sana’a.
The office of the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said he met with the Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam in Muscat on Tuesday “to discuss the UN roadmap which will operationalise the parties’ commitments to a nationwide ceasefire, measures to improve living conditions in Yemen, and the resumption of an inclusive political process under UN auspices”.
Grundberg is eager to keep the peace plan and the growing conflict apart if possible.
www.theguardian.com
Britain warns of severe consequences after Houthi attack in Red Sea repelled
Patrick Wintour
Britain has warned of severe consequences after US and UK warships repelled a barrage of 20 Houthi rockets, drones and cruise missiles fired at ships in the Red Sea.
It was the most sustained and complex assault by the Iranian-backed group since the Houthi force governing Yemen from the capital, Sana’a, launched its attacks.
There have been than 20 attacks since mid-October, deterring a large number of shipping companies from using the Red Sea naval route and pushing up prices.
Grant Shapps, the UK defence secretary, said: “The attacks launched by the Houthis are unacceptable and their consequences will be severe.”
A UN security council resolution condemning the Houthi actions, but not authorising the use of force, is due to be passed in New York on Wednesday. It is unclear whether any other country, particularly France, will be willing to join what could be joint US-UK reprisals against the Houthis.
A military spokesperson for the Houthis, once seen as a minor localised military force, said in a statement the attacks would continue “until the siege of Gaza is lifted”.
American and British forces said they shot down 18 drones and three missiles on Tuesday. “Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs … anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the southern Red Sea,” the US Central Command (Centcom) said.
The drones and missiles were downed by a combination of F/A-18 warplanes operating from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier and one British and three American destroyers, Centcom said, adding that there were no injuries or damage reported.
Royal Navy personnel in action
Royal Navy personnel in action against a Houthi attack in the Red Sea. Photograph: Owen Cooban/Ministry of Defence
The US set up a multinational naval taskforce last month to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, which are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12% of global trade.
Shapps said the HMS Diamond “repelled the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date”. He added that the ship, described by the Royal Navy as “a jewel in the naval crown”, destroyed multiple attack drones with guns and Sea Viper missiles.
The US said no Iranian ships were involved in the attack.
Last week, 12 countries led by the US warned the Houthis there would be direct consequences if the attacks undermining freedom of navigation along the busiest waterways in the world were not brought to an end.
The Houthis formally rejected the western demand in a letter to the UN, and followed this up with a military assault that reduced the options available to Centcom.
Plans to designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation, a designation lifted by the US president, Joe Biden, at the start of his term in office, have fallen away as an alternative response.
The Houthi military spokesperson said: “We carried out an operation with a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones targeting an American ship that was providing support [to Israel]. The operation came as a preliminary response to the treacherous attack on our naval forces by the American enemy.”
He added: “The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Arab and Red Seas until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip is lifted. The Yemeni armed forces confirm their full commitment to the continuation of shipping traffic in the Red and Arabian Seas to all destinations except the ports of occupied Palestine.”
Western officials are discussing which countries might be prepared to be part of military action against Yemen, with most attention focused one whether French ships would join an attack on coastal radars.
One issue under discussion is whether the US would mount a single punitive attack or a longer-term campaign to identify the mobile sites from which Houthis are firing missiles.
Whitehall estimates based on shipping industry forecasts suggest the global impact of extended disruption to shipping could lead to a 0.2-0.5% rise in inflation, with the impact most severe on the finances of Egypt due to the loss of commercial shipping through the Suez canal.
The UK has long been convinced that Iran is arming and training the Houthis but says the Houthis are not taking this action on the instruction of Tehran.
Privately, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that have battled with the Houthis in the nine-year Yemen civil war, are said to be sympathetic to military action against the Houthis but are wary of being seen to support US-led military action against a group that has won extensive popular support for its acts of solidarity with Gaza.
The UK has been busy diplomatically with Oman and Iran, the two countries with direct influence over the Houthis, to press home the message that Houthi activity is unacceptable and, if it continues, jeopardises the Yemen peace plan being taken forward.
It is argued that Houthi actions undermine the chances that the Houthis will ever be seen as a responsible actor on the world stage capable of forming part of a government in Yemen with the UN-recognised government in the South.
The warnings over the suspension of the peace process, which follow talks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia last year, are probably regarded as the best leverage the west has over the Houthis apart from military action and sanctions.
The first six-month stage of the peace plan would include the payment of outstanding salaries to tens of thousands of public sector staff based on 2014 payrolls and funded by Saudi Arabia. A military disruption would also eat into the revenues the Houthis receive in form of customs and taxes worth more than $1bn a year imposed on ships entering the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah.
But the Houthis, an authoritarian Shia government, believe they have the support of Yemen after mobilising tens of thousands of Yemenis to demonstrate in solidarity in Sana’a.
The office of the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said he met with the Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam in Muscat on Tuesday “to discuss the UN roadmap which will operationalise the parties’ commitments to a nationwide ceasefire, measures to improve living conditions in Yemen, and the resumption of an inclusive political process under UN auspices”.
Grundberg is eager to keep the peace plan and the growing conflict apart if possible.
Britain warns of severe consequences after Houthi attack in Red Sea repelled
US and UK warships shoot down barrage of rockets, drones and cruise missiles fired at ships by Yemeni group
www.theguardian.com
