U.S. strikes on the Houthis might create new problems.
Whether or not the United States was wise to strike the Houthis militarily is now an irrelevant question. For good or ill, President Joe Biden concluded that something, anything, was needed to be done to degrade the group’s military capabilities, and get them to the point where they view further attacks against ships in the Red Sea as a costly endeavor not worth pursuing.
On Jan. 16, the U.S. struck four Houthi-operated anti-ship missiles that a U.S. military official said presented an imminent threat to merchant and U.S. Navy ships off Yemen’s coastline. The latest strikes occurred less than a week after U.S. fighter planes, submarines, and surface ships launched two rounds of strikes against more than 70 Houthi targets inside Yemen, encompassing everything from drone and missile production facilities to radar stations. A day later, the U.S. hit another Houthi radar site. Biden has stated that he won’t hesitate to take more military action if attacks by the group continue.
Unfortunately for the U.S. and its partners, the Houthis don’t appear to have any interest in ending them. This week, a Houthi missile struck a U.S.-owned civilian ship, the Gibraltar Eagle, about three days after the initial U.S and U.K. conducted joint strikes. Hours after the U.S. engaged in another round of air attacks, the Houthis responded by launching an anti-ship ballistic missile toward the M/V Zografia, a bulk carrier that reported minor damage as it was transiting the Red Sea.
