February 3, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

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US forces struck an additional Houthi anti-ship cruise missile in Yemen early Sunday local time, according to US Central Command.

The strike was conducted in "self defense" against a Houthi cruise missile "prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea" at 4 a.m. local time on Sunday, US Central Command said in a statement. 

US forces determined the cruise missile presented an "imminent threat" to US Navy ships and other vessels in the region.

The strike is a part of the US military's effort to deter the Houthis from further disrupting the global shipping lanes in the Red Sea. 

Israel’s military has attacked more than 3,400 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and more than 50 in Syria since the war in Gaza broke out 120 days ago, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

At a press briefing Saturday, Hagari said Israel has been trying to stop Hezbollah's “supply chain of ammunition and missiles,” which he alleged were being smuggled from Iran to Syria and then to Lebanon.

Hagari also said the Israeli military has deployed three divisions along the Lebanese border since October 7 -- instead of the usual single division to try to thwart Hezbollah's capabilities and protect people in northern Israel.

For the last four months, along with the war in Gaza, we have been waging a very intense battle on the northern front, aimed at reshaping the security reality so that the residents of the north can return to their homes safely,” Hagari said, adding: "So far we have attacked more than 150 terrorist units and eliminated more than 200 terrorists and commanders."

Hezbollah on Saturday said it had launched at least eight attacks on Israeli positions.

The IDF acknowledged that “a number of launches” were identified crossing from Lebanon to northern Israel, but said no injuries were reported and that it struck the sources of the fire.

UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said Saturday that strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen are about protection.

“The Houthis’ attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea are illegal and unacceptable and it is our duty to protect innocent lives and preserve freedom of navigation,” Shapps said in a statement after the United Kingdom and United States conducted the strikes against the Iranian-backed rebel group.

Shapps also said the strikes were "not an escalation," adding that they have "already successfully targeted launchers and storage sites involved in Houthi attacks" on ships in the Red Sea.

In a separate joint statement with the US-led coalition, the UK said that Houthi attacks constituted “an international challenge” and issued a warning to Houthi leadership. 

“We will not hesitate to continue to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways in the face of continued threats,” the coalition said. 

The Houthi rebels have said their strikes on Red Sea ships are in response to Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a top member of the Houthi Political Council, said the group will continue its military operations until the siege on Gaza is lifted and vowed to respond to the latest US and UK strikes in Yemen.

In the group's first reaction to the latest wave of attacks, he warned: "We will meet escalation with escalation."

Al Bukhaiti wrote on X:

"The US-British coalition’s bombing of a number of Yemeni provinces will not change our position, and we affirm that our military operations against Israel will continue until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped and the siege on its residents is lifted, no matter the sacrifices it costs us."   
"Our war is moral, and if we had not intervened to support the oppressed in Gaza, humanity would not have existed among humans. The American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered, and we will meet escalation with escalation," he said.

Recent strikes by the US military in the Middle East make it difficult to reach a political solution in the region, Iran's foreign minister told the United Nations' special envoy for Yemen on Saturday, according to Iran's state-run news agency.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments prior to US officials confirming the latest strikes Saturday on Houthi targets. The attacks follow multiple joint US-UK airstrikes on the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen last month.

During their meeting in Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian told Special Envoy Hans Grundberg that the US strikes and its decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization have "complicated the situation and made it more difficult to reach a political solution," the state news agency, IRNA, reported. 

Amir-Abdollahian also called US strikes "the continuation of Washington’s wrong and failed approach to resolve issues by force and through militarism," IRNA reported. 

Remember: The US also conducted major airstrikes on 85 targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria on Friday in response to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. 

The strikes in Yemen are distinct from the attacks in Iraq and Syria: The former is a response to ongoing Houthi attacks on international shipping and US warships in the Red Sea, while the latter is a retaliation for the deadly attack on US troops. But both target Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.

US President Joe Biden gave the green light for Saturday's strikes earlier in the week, according to two senior administration officials. 

The strikes are separate from the retaliatory measures the United States took on Friday in Syria and Iraq, and are related to ongoing actions to defend US ships and international commercial vessels in the Red Sea, according to one administration official.

They mark the third set of strikes as part of a coalition that includes the United States, the UK, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark and New Zealand. 

The senior administration official stressed that the US does not want escalation, and that the strikes are in direct response to the actions by the Iranian-backed Houthis.

The strikes occurred as Biden visited his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. The president is currently en route to Los Angeles, where he's expected to participate in campaign fundraisers. 

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels say their strikes on ships in the Red Sea as in response to Israel's military campaign in Gaza. There are fears that the attacks could escalate Israel’s war against Hamas into a wider regional conflict.

On Saturday, the US and UK struck over 30 Houthi targets across Yemen, while the US also struck six Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles that the group was prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea, according to US officials.

This is what you should know about the rebel group:

Civil war: The Houthi movement, also known as Ansarallah (Supporters of God), is one side of the Yemeni civil war that has raged for nearly a decade. Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa and toppled the internationally recognized and Saudi-backed government, triggering a civil war. The war has sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and pushing parts of the country into famine.

Backed by Iran: The Houthis are backed by Iran, which began increasing its aid to the group in 2014 as the civil war escalated and as its rivalry with Saudi Arabia intensified. Iran has provided the group with weapons and technology for, among other things, sea mines, ballistic and cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Shipping attacks: While the Houthis may not be able to pose a serious threat to Israel, their technology can wreak havoc in the Red Sea. There are fears that the Houthi drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels, which have occurred almost daily since December 9, could cause an even greater shock to the world economy. The Houthi strikes could be intended to inflict economic pain on Israel’s allies in the hope they will pressure it to cease its bombardment of Gaza. Championing the Palestinian cause could also be an attempt to gain legitimacy at home and in the region as they seek to control northern Yemen. It could also give them an upper hand against their Arab adversaries, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who they accuse of being lackeys of the US and Israel.

The additional strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen send a clear message to the Iran-backed militia, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday.

Austin issued the following statement:

"These strikes are intended to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to conduct their reckless and destabilizing attacks against U.S. and international vessels lawfully transiting the Red Sea. Coalition forces targeted 13 locations associated with the Houthis' deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars.
"This collective action sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels."

Coalition statement: In a separate statement, the US, UK, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand said. 

"These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade, and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since previous coalition strikes on January 11 and 22, 2024, including the January 27 attack which struck and set ablaze the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker M/V Marlin Luanda."
It added: "Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea but let us reiterate our warning to Houthi leadership: we will not hesitate to continue to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways in the face of continued threats."