{"id":47079,"date":"2024-01-12T17:53:04","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T17:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/us-uk-air-strikes-pound-yemen-as-mideast-crisis-spreads\/"},"modified":"2024-01-12T17:53:04","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T17:53:04","slug":"us-uk-air-strikes-pound-yemen-as-mideast-crisis-spreads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/us-uk-air-strikes-pound-yemen-as-mideast-crisis-spreads\/","title":{"rendered":"US, UK air strikes pound Yemen as Mideast crisis spreads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>Heavy US and British air strikes pounded targets in rebel-held Yemen early on Friday after weeks of disruptive attacks on Red Sea shipping by Iran-backed Houthi forces acting in solidarity with Hamas.<\/p>\n<p>The Houthis have carried out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1799042\/yemeni-rebels-claim-attacks-on-two-red-sea-ships\">growing number of attacks<\/a> on what they deem to be Israel-linked shipping in the key international trade route since the eruption of the military offensive in Gaza on October 7.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1805307\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The rebels have controlled a major part of Yemen since a civil war erupted there in 2014 and are part of the Iran-backed \u201caxis of resistance\u201d arrayed against Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s strikes targeted an airbase, airports and a military camp, the Houthi rebels\u2019 <em>Al-Masirah<\/em> TV station said, with <em>AFP<\/em> correspondents and witnesses also reporting they could hear bombardments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines and warplanes,\u201d Houthi Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Al-Ezzi said, according to official rebel media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica and Britain will have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>US President Joe Biden called the US and British strikes a \u201cdefensive action\u201d after the Red Sea attacks and said he \u201cwill not hesitate\u201d to order further military action if needed.<\/p>\n<p>The strikes involved fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles, the US Air Forces Central Command said in a statement. Sixty targets at 16 Houthi locations were hit by more than 100 precision-guided munitions, it said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, at my direction, US military forces \u2014 together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands \u2014 successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world\u2019s most vital waterways,\u201d Biden said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Unverified images on social media, some of them purportedly of Al-Dailami airbase north of Sanaa, showed explosions lighting up the sky as loud bangs and the roar of planes sounded.<\/p>\n<p>Biden called the strikes a \u201cdirect response\u201d to the \u201cunprecedented\u201d attacks by the Houthis, \u201cincluding the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardised trade, and threatened freedom of navigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"regional-concerns\" href=\"#regional-concerns\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>Regional concerns<\/h2>\n<p>Blaming the Houthis for ignoring \u201crepeated warnings\u201d, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement the strikes were \u201cnecessary and proportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes \u201ctargeted sites associated with the Houthis\u2019 unmanned aerial vehicle, ballistic and cruise missile, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>A joint statement by the United States, Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and South Korea said the \u201caim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut let our message be clear: we will not hesitate to defend lives and protect the free flow of commerce in one of the world\u2019s most critical waterways in the face of continued threats,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>The Houthis said there was \u201cno justification\u201d for the air strikes and warned that attacks on Israel-linked shipping would continue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe affirm that there is absolutely no justification for this aggression against Yemen, as there was no threat to international navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas, and the targeting was and will continue to affect Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine,\u201d Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>Yemen\u2019s neighbour Saudi Arabia, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1744444\">trying to end its involvement<\/a> in a nine-year war with the Houthis, urged against escalation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is following with great concern the military operations,\u201d a foreign ministry statement said, calling for \u201cself-restraint and avoiding escalation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Western strikes could risk turning an already-tense situation in the Middle East into a wider conflagration pitting the United States and Israel against Iran and its regional proxies.<\/p>\n<p>The Houthi rebels say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in response to Israel\u2019s bombardment of Gaza after the Oct 7 attack, and have launched a series of drones and missiles towards Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Israel has also been facing cross-border fire along its northern frontier from Iran-backed militants in Syria and Lebanon \u2014 particularly the Hamas-aligned Hezbollah \u2014 and has responded with strikes of its own in both countries.<\/p>\n<p>US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria have also faced stepped-up attacks since the outbreak of the fighting in Gaza, with Washington responding to several by bombing the sites of pro-Iran groups.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"consequences\" href=\"#consequences\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>\u2018Consequences\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The United States and its allies had issued a series of increasingly stern warnings to the Houthis to stop the shipping attacks, although Washington has been wary of inflaming regional tensions.<\/p>\n<p>Washington set up an international coalition in December \u2014 dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian \u2014 to protect maritime traffic in the area, through which 12 per cent of world trade flows.<\/p>\n<p>Twelve nations led by the United States warned the Houthis on January 3 of \u201cconsequences\u201d unless they immediately stopped attacks on commercial vessels.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, however, the Houthis launched what London called their most significant attack yet, with US and British forces shooting down 18 drones and three missiles.<\/p>\n<p>The final straw for the Western allies appeared to come early on Thursday when the US military said the Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into a shipping lane in the Gulf of Aden.<\/p>\n<p>It was the 27th attack on international shipping in the Red Sea since November 19, the US military said.<\/p>\n<p>The intensifying attacks have caused shipping companies to divert around South Africa\u2019s Cape of Good Hope, sparking fears of a shock to the global economy.<\/p>\n<p>The United States strengthened its military posture in the region immediately after the October 7 attacks on Israel and warned Iran and its allies not to escalate the situation.<\/p>\n<p>The US was initially cautious in its response because it is seeking to preserve a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1800355\">fragile peace<\/a> in Yemen, where a decade of civil war and a Saudi-led coalition\u2019s military campaign have led to one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1680377\">world\u2019s worst humanitarian crises<\/a> in the Arabian peninsula\u2019s poorest country.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heavy US and British air strikes pounded targets in rebel-held Yemen early on Friday after weeks of disruptive attacks on Red Sea shipping by Iran-backed Houthi forces acting in solidarity with Hamas. The Houthis have carried out a growing number of attacks on what they deem to be Israel-linked shipping in the key international trade [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/12225051e1caaec.jpg?r=225134","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}