US-led coalition launches new round of strikes in Yemen| News update| Breaking News| CNN News |News
Breaking news in the Middle East where Iran-backed Houthi rebels are vowing tonight to ret after a new round of airstrikes and the United Kingdom. In Yemen, They were also supported by several other countries. Today, the Houthis sorry, the group of countries hit at least 30 Houthi targets across more than a dozen different locations. Senior bit administration officials say that President Biden approved these strikes earlier in the week Now, all of this is coming just a day after the US launched other airstrikes. Those were retaliatory strikes against the Iran-backed military in both Iraq and Syria. Those followed the deadly drone attack last weekend on Sunday on the U.S. troops in Jordan that left three American service members dead. CNN's international diplomatic e Nic Robertson is live in Israel with more on what this could mean for the region. But first, let's get straight to CNN's Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon. So, Oren, unlike last night's strikes in Iraq and Syria, today the U.S. did not conduct alone. That's right. This was once again conducted with the U.K. This is the third time the two nations have operated to strike Houthi targets in Yemen The message effectively coming out together from these is that they find the ongoing from the Iran-backed rebel group on international shipping completely unacceptable. Especially because they have targeted U.S. and U.K. commercial vessels and warships. Now, it is worth noting here that several countries were backing them, including Australi Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, with not only diplomatic support but different kinds of perhaps operational or logistical support for this o And we've seen that happen as we A measure of how grave, not just and the U.K. view this, but also all of these other countries involved because of the effect that the Houthi attacks have had on the global economy, on international shipping, considering they have targeted some of the world's most important international waterways. This set of targets, 36 targets in 13 different locations in Yemen, according to U.S. Central Command the list of different types of targets here all read this all from their sta Multiple underground storage facilities, command, and control missile systems, UAV storage and operation sites, radars and helicopters. And these pictures you see on your screen. Now, these are F-18 fighter jets launching from the deck of the I as well as a destroyer here,
launching Tomahawk cruise missiles All of that is part of this attack, And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that if the attacks on international shipping don't then these strikes on Houthi weaponry will continue. And again, it's noteworthy here that it's not just this the joint operation here. The U.S. struck drones, and anti-ship cruise missiles throughout the 36 hours. So this is a much broader effort Alex, I'll make one final point You said in the intro here that President Joe Biden had approved this earlier in the and that's just as he approved earlier in t the strikes in Iraq and Syria. This is how gravely the US and the Binyamin installation View this as a determination to keep getting after this problem even if the Houthis and some of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria vowed to continue their attacks. The US is not deterred from acting as well. And finally, I'll point out that in Iraq and Austin US operations there, the US response to the last Sunday that killed three U. service members, wounded scores That's not over yet. Yeah, they were certainly anticipating the need to carry out this strip So Oren at the Pentagon, thank you very much. Nic Robertson, to you. The Houthis are now vowing to re to the strikes by this international coalition. This message of deterrence doesn't seem to be working. It doesn't. But it's rhetoric from the Houthis saying they'll meet escalation with escalation. However, over the past few weeks since these strikes began about three weeks ago, the Houthis have continued to target international shipping passing through the Red Sea. So I think even though once they've done their battle, their battle damage assessment they may find that they have lost a lot more equipment than they anticipated. This is a fighting force that went through about eight years of war with Saudi Arabia, Much of that under Saudi airstrikes that were, by the way, helped with intelligence and U.S. air refueling of some of the Saudi fighter jets involved in the box So the Houthis feel that they've been through this sort of thing before, perhaps not on this scale, perhaps not with the reach that the United States and capacity of the United States and its allies can be put on the ground in Yemen. But the Houthis, for their part, are saying that they can withstand and they'll that they will come back and con And they have a track record of doing that. They're also saying that they're doing this because of to support the Palestinians in G And their point being and that point being made by the Iranians as we that if the war ends in Gaza, if there's a cease-fire there, then all the region will go quite But, of course, the cease-fire that they're looking is on their terms where Hamas comes out stronger, Israel comes out weaker, and the United States interests in the region are weakened as well. And big questions about to what extent Iran is trying to resupply those who are at these as they continue their fight. Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv, and Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon, thank you both.
Let's bring in our panel of experts for more on this. Joining me now are CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozie and military analyst Lieutenant General Mark Hertling Thank you both for partners have been effective at degrading Houthi capabilities Because it doesn't seem like they've been effective at deterring Yeah, I believe based on the number of targets and the type of weaponry that was used based on what over the counterintelligence is saying, the so-called ocean, that it was both an air and a cruise missile strike, Ale So that's going to strike a lot of targets that are conducive to the Houthis continuing to hack it, to attack the sea-based platforms, the shipping that's going through the area. They talked about the underground targets. When you're discussing any force that lives and lives in fights in the desert, like the Houthis, there is no cover and concealment for the kind of or the ammo caches they have. So the type of attacks have to s into these deeply buried targets We're seeing that in Israel and with what the IDF is fighting against Hamas. The Houthis use the same kind of where they bury the things they're using, the rockets, the missiles, the e So it's much more difficult to strike and destroy that target But I think with what we're talking about the number of aircraft and sea life ballistic that have gone into this strike, I would suggest they have been deteriorated quite a bit tonight And this is, again, the first night against the Hout There's going to be more calm. The name of the game for the Biden administration seems to be knock We're trying to deter you while also not escalating things taking powerful enough action to not escalate. And there has been some criticism that those two things are essentially in conflict with each other. So moving from the Red Sea and the Houthis up to Iraq and S we saw a rather powerful set of strikes last night, seven different facilities, and 85 different targets against these Iranian-backed groups The Biden administration making they see this just as an opening response for that strike last weekend by militants that killed three American service members.
How do you think the Biden admin is walking this line in carrying out powerful, they hope deterrence strikes while also not being not going beyond what they feel would be a that would cause escalation? Well, what I think we're seeing is the beginning of a low-grade campaign in both and Syria area and against the Houthis in Yemen the Biden administration knows, though, it's not going to say you loud to the American public that it's not going to take away the will to fight for either sets of groups, especially when they're all back by Iran, which has been opportunistic abo looking for moments to strike the or U.S. targets with some sort of padding in bet So they have deniability. So what you're going to see Do they take out several tars Then they watch. They do battle damage assessment, as Mark was talking about. They see who moves where and they rack them up for the next So each time they get a little better understanding that it's not going to get down but hopefully, it'll get in the r fewer attacks such that some shipping can start again. And in the Iraq and Syria areas, they send enough of a strong message that they just quit at it for a week week, maybe months.
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