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- The US and UK carried out strikes against the Houthis in Yemen early Friday.
- New footage shows the militaries preparing for the mission and then carrying out the strikes.
New footage released by the US and UK militaries shows their forces readying to carry out a series of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen and the intense bombardment that ensued.
The strikes, which took place early Friday morning (local time) and came in response to months of attacks by the Iran-backed rebels on international shipping lanes, hit over 60 targets at 16 Houthi locations and involved the firing of more than 100 precision-guided munitions of various types, according to US Air Forces Central.
Western officials said the strikes were launched from airborne, surface, and, subsurface platforms — jets, warships, and at least one submarine — and targeted radar stations, weapons storage facilities and launch sites, command and control nodes, and production facilities across Yemen.
US Central Command and UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps shared footage of American and British fighter jets and support aircraft, respectively, taking off for the nighttime operation.
On Jan. 11 at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets to degrade their capability to continue their illegal and… pic.twitter.com/bR8biMolSx
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 12, 2024
Four @RoyalAirForce Typhoons have conducted precision strikes on two Houthi military targets alongside US forces.
The threat to innocent lives and global trade has become so great that this action was not only necessary, it was our duty to protect vessels & freedom of navigation pic.twitter.com/tbN7ncJYpF
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) January 12, 2024
Footage of multiple strikes carried out by British Typhoon fighter jets was also released by the UK Ministry of Defense and later shared by local defense media.
Here’s a video showing airstrikes conducted by Typhoon jets after Britain and the United States conducted air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. pic.twitter.com/5hzanSX1dH
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) January 12, 2024
The UK said it’s fighters used precision munitions to hit one Houthi site that was used to launch reconnaissance and attack drones and an airfield used to carry out missile attacks. Western officials said the strikes were military objectives and carried out with minimal risk to civilians.
“The detailed results of the strikes are being assessed, but early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow,” the UK defense ministry said in a statement. Echoing this, a senior Biden administration official said the action was carried out under the expectation that it will “degrade in a significant way” the Houthis’ ability to stage its attacks.
A Houthi spokesperson said the strikes killed five militants and injured six more, vowing revenge for the actions and promising retaliation against American and British forces.
For months, the Iran-backed Houthis have carried out missile and drone attacks on international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, claiming that their actions are directly related to the Israel-Hamas war. US officials, however, have pushed back on this connection and slammed the rebels for targeting dozens of countries and turning a key global supply route into a dangerous voyage.
The retaliatory strikes follow repeated warnings from the US and its allies that if the Houthis would face serious consequences if the attacks did not stop. On Tuesday, the rebels staged their largest-ever assault on the shipping lanes, which they followed-up on two days later by firing a single missile into the water.
It remains to be seen if a single night of strikes deter the Houthis from future attacks. A retired Australian major general and strategist told Business Insider that the US and its partners may have to conduct additional strikes if it wants to more completely degrade the Houthis’ military capabilities. Some other experts have suggested that the Friday strikes are unlikely to produce tangible results.
“The strikes on Houthi military sites were certainly punitive — retaliating for the repeated attacks on Red Sea shipping — but should not be mistaken as advancing deterrence and reestablishing security around the Bab al Mandeb Strait,” said Katherine Zimmerman, a counterterrorism expert at the American Enterprise Institute. She added that the Houthis “were almost certainly prepared to pay this price as they continue to reap the benefits from their drone and missile attacks.”
US officials signaled in the aftermath of the strikes that Washington will not hesitate to take further kinetic action against the Houthis if needed.
The US “maintains its right to self-defense and, if necessary, we will take follow-on actions to protect US forces,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
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