Nancy A. Youssef, Benoit Faucon, Saleh al-Batati, and Costas Paris of The Wall Street Journal are reporting that the Iran-backed group defied an ultimatum to halt attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The U.S.-led coalition launched more than a dozen strikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen. They write:
A U.S.-led coalition launched more than a dozen strikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, officials said late Thursday, two days after the Yemeni rebel force defied an ultimatum to halt its attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea with a barrage of missiles and drones.
The strikes, conducted by U.S. and British forces and supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, were intended to reduce the Houthis’ campaign, which the Iran-backed rebel group said it launched in response to Israel’s war on the Hamas militant group in Gaza.
The coalition strikes early Friday morning local time “targeted radar systems, air defense systems, and storage and launch sites for one way attack unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles,” said U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East. […]
The attacks have disrupted shipping in waters through which 8% of the world’s oil supply traveled, on average, in 2023 and risk raising consumer prices on everything from electronics to coffee. Container volumes through the Suez Canal from mid-December to Jan. 7 fell more than 60% from the same period a year ago—from 3.3 million boxes to 1.3 million boxes as the result of the ship diversions.
Read more here.
