The Houthis have survived worse than America’s and Britain’s strikes
a scrappy insurgency in desolate northern Yemen has managed to put itself in conflict with both the Middle East’s strongest power and the world’s superpower. Early on January 12th American and British warplanes bombed dozens of targets in Yemen. More allied strikes could take place.
President Joe Biden said: “I will not hesitate to direct further measures." The strikes followed almost two months of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The group says these are a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and that it is only targeting ships with links to Israel (it has also fired missiles at southern Israel). In practice, though, the attacks have been random, seeming to target any vessel that happens to be within range, including American and British warships.
Most of the world’s leading container-shipping companies are now avoiding the Red Sea. Last month America stood up a multinational coalition to secure the waterway, and on January 3rd the coalition gave the Houthis a “final warning". They responded hours later by detonating a naval drone a few miles away from commercial vessels and American warships, following that up a week later with a barrage against an American carrier group and a British destroyer.
The coalition had valid reason to strike the Houthis: freedom of navigation is a core tenet of international law. To do nothing would be to tolerate the blockade of a waterway that handles perhaps 30% of global container traffic. Hapag-Lloyd, a German container firm, welcomed the action: “The strikes were needed to guarantee the freedom of navigation through a vital sea route." Whether the strikes will be effective is another matter: the Houthis have proved resilient before.
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