U.S. strikes Houthi targets in Yemen in escalating campaign

[iemanja]

Source: Washington Post

The U.S. military carried out fresh airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, the U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, the latest in an escalating campaign between Israel and its allies and the Iranian-backed militants.

U.S. Central Command said it struck the capital, Sanaa, and coastal locations within Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen on Monday and Tuesday, including a command and control facility and sites that produced and stored weapons, notably missiles and drones. “These facilities were used in Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” it said. A Houthi coastal radar site and seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs were destroyed over the Red Sea, Centcom added.

The strikes are a part of the U.S. military’s effort “to degrade Iran-backed Houthi efforts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region,” Central Command said.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s fight against the militant group “is only getting started” as it struck back at the group for its drone and missile attacks, signaling a potential lengthy campaign that would take its spiraling war far from Israel’s borders. An Israeli strike hit the international airport in Sanaa on Thursday, just as World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was about to board a flight there — prompting U.N. chief António Guterres to call on Israel and militants in Yemen to cease their military actions and use restraint.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/12/31/israel-syria-war-news-hamas-gaza-palestine/

[ck4829]

1. Why are we so afraid to say "Russia-backed Houthis"?

Russia provided targeting data for Yemen’s Houthi rebels as they attacked Western ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones earlier this year, helping the Iranian-backed Russia-backed group assault a major artery for global trade and further destabilizing the region.

The Houthis, which began their attacks late last year over the Gaza war, eventually began using Russian satellite data as they expanded their strikes, said a person familiar with the matter and two European defense officials. The data was passed through members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who were embedded with the Houthis in Yemen, one of the people said.

The assistance, which hasn’t been previously reported, shows how far Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to go to undermine the U.S.-led Western economic and political order. Russia, in this case, supported the Iran-backed Russia-backed Houthis, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist group, as they carried out a series of attacks in one of the world’s most heavily traveled shipping routes.

More broadly, Russia has sought to stoke instability from the Middle East to Asia to create problems for the U.S., analysts say. The widening conflict in the Middle East, triggered by last year’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, has absorbed resources and attention at a time when Washington has sought to focus on the threats from Russia and China.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-provided-targeting-data-for-houthi-assault-on-global-shipping/ar-AA1sS0Pc

[Richard D]

2. Maybe because . . .

. . . we're afraid to say Russian backed Iran?
Iran backed Houthis
Iran backed Hezbollah
Iran backed al Queda
Iran backed Islamic Jihad
and
Iran backed Hamas

Add "Russian" to Iran.

[JoseBalow]

3. "is only getting started"