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SvennoJ on 11 January 2024
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Royal Air Force carried out "targeted strikes" against Houthi facilities in Yemen, says UK prime minister

The British Royal Air Force conducted targeted strikes against military facilities used by Houthi rebels in Yemen, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement on Thursday. The decision was made in response to the militia's recent attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, he said, which posed a threat to UK and international ships and caused significant disruptions to vital trade routes.

Sunak emphasized the Houthi rebels' continued disregard for international warnings and their persistent attacks in the Red Sea, including recent incidents against UK and US warships. “Despite the repeated warnings from the international community, the Houthis have continued to carry out attacks in the Red Sea, including against UK and US warships just this week," Sunak said.

Sunak said that the United Kingdom took limited, necessary, and proportionate action in collaboration with the United States, receiving non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada, and Bahrain. The strikes aimed to degrade Houthi military capabilities and safeguard global shipping, he said.

The Royal Navy remains actively engaged in patrolling the Red Sea as part of the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian, which is aimed at deterring further Houthi aggression, Sunak added. Sunak urged the Houthi rebels to cease their attacks and take steps to de-escalate the situation.

 

Attacks on Yemen ‘a bad mistake’: Former US official

Nabil Khouri, a former US deputy chief of mission in Yemen, says the attacks on Yemen are “a failure of US diplomacy”. Khouri said the situation in the Red Sea has been escalating, with the Houthis attacking ships and firing missiles at Israel in what the Yemeni rebels said was a response to the Israeli military’s continued military assault on the Gaza Strip.

With the US and UK bombings of Houthi targets in Yemen, the Biden administration has effectively become “a direct participant in the Gaza war”, Khouri told Al Jazeera. “This can only escalate from here,” he said. “I think this is a bad mistake. I think there should have been a better effort to deter the Houthis … If the US and Britain think that this will silence the Houthis, I think they’ve got another thing coming.”


US legislators stress Biden needs Congress to OK military strikes

Val Hoyle, a Democratic member of the US Congress, says Biden did not get authorisation from Congress before launching strikes on Yemen.

“The Constitution is clear: Congress has the sole authority to authorize military involvement in overseas conflicts. Every president must first come to Congress and ask for military authorization, regardless of party,” she wrote on X. As reports began to break of the US attacks, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna also wrote on social media that Biden “needs to come to Congress before launching a strike on the Houthis”. “That is Article 1 of the Constitution,” he said. Republican Senator Mike Lee said he agreed with Khanna. “The Constitution matters, regardless of party affiliation,” Lee added.

‘Congressional authorization isn’t some sort of courtesy’: US advocate

Stephen Miles, president of the progressive US foreign policy group Win Without War, says the strikes on targets in Yemen are “at odds with both the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution”. The US Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war while the president, as commander-in-chief, has the power to use the military to defend the US. The War Powers Resolution, passed in 1973, was designed as a check on the US president’s ability to “initiate or escalate military actions abroad”.

“Congressional authorization isn’t some sort of courtesy, it’s a legal requirement for this kind of act,” Miles wrote on social media of the Yemen strikes. He added that under the War Powers Resolution, “presidents are required to seek authorization before knowingly introducing US forces into where combat may become imminent. It was written expressly for situations like this”. Biden, he said, “should refrain from any further military action without congressional authorization and Congress should provide urgent oversight”.



https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/11/joint-statement-from-the-governments-of-australia-bahrain-canada-denmark-germany-netherlands-new-zealand-republic-of-korea-united-kingdom-and-the-united-states/


Houthis say retaliatory strikes launched against US and UK warships

Houthi forces have launched retaliatory attacks on US and UK warships in the Red Sea in retaliation for the assault by Western allies, a senior member of the Houthi group, Abdul Salam Jahaf, claimed in a statement early Friday. Meanwhile, the Houthi deputy foreign minister warned that the United States and Britain would face severe repercussions for what he termed a blatant act of aggression.

Hussein al-Ezzi said that Yemen was targeted in a "massive aggressive assault" by US and UK warships and fighter aircraft. "Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines, and warplanes, and America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression," al-Ezzi said.