US Navy Red Sea killings: Houthis vow retaliation

Al-Mukalla: After US marines killed ten fighters on Sunday, the Houthis in Yemen threatened to make the Red Sea a "hell" for the US.

Under the headline "America has opened the door to hell for itself," the official Houthi news agency published an editorial on Monday, threatening retaliation for US Navy attacks on their boats in the Red Sea and alleging that the US is aiding Israel in its heavy bombardment of Gaza by preventing them from enforcing their ban on Israel-linked ships passing through the Red Sea, Arab News reported.

The news agency said that the US Navy performed “a foolish act by targeting three boats, as a result of which ten members of the Yemeni naval forces martyred, thus opening the door of hell upon itself, its ships, and its military bases in the region.”

After the Houthis attempted to take over a commercial ship and started firing on the helicopters, the US Navy destroyed three of the four boats they had in the Red Sea on Sunday, killing the crew members.

The Houthis claim that ten of their members perished in the US Navy attack.

Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, the leader of the Houthis, declared that his group would continue to prevent ships bound for Israel from crossing the Red Sea and would target the US ships that had killed their soldiers.

“This is an attack on Yemen, and there must be retaliation, and America must suffer the repercussions of this attack and crime,” Al-Bukhaiti told France 24 Arabic TV on Sunday night.

The Houthis began their Red Sea assaults on November 19 when they took control of a commercial ship named Galaxy Leader and diverted it to the Hodeidah shore in western Yemen.

To force commercial and navy ships to stay out of the Red Sea, they fired ballistic missiles and drones at them in the days that followed.

Some observers predict that despite the Houthis' vehement vows of vengeance, regional players like Oman would intervene to urge the Houthis to defuse the situation so as not to jeopardise the current, promising UN-led attempts to create a strategy to end the crisis in Yemen.

The public is putting more and more pressure on the Houthis to respond, according to Mohammed Al-Basha, a senior Middle East analyst at the Navanti Group. Should they decide to do so, he said, they would target US Navy ships with explosive-laden suicide boats while also launching massive drones and missiles meant to overwhelm the US Navy's air defences.

“The effectiveness of the US Navy’s defense mechanisms could prompt the Houthis to contemplate a coordinated swarm offensive, involving joint drone attacks, Water-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices, and anti-ship missiles, with the aim of targeting a destroyer,” Al-Basha said.

The same Western nations that pushed the Yemeni government to halt the military offensive that was about to drive the Houthis from Hodeidah in late 2018 are now racing to launch airstrikes on the Houthis, according to Yemeni conflict expert Nadwa Al-Dawsari. She also added that the Houthis would use any US military action to recruit new members.

“Now it seems the West is rushing to war,” she said on social media platform X, adding: “Airstrikes might undermine Houthis missile capability in the short term, but won't address their threat. They will reinforce their propaganda that they are being punished for defending Palestine, a cause that most Arabs consider their first priority. This will help Houthis recruit fighters for future wars that will extend beyond Yemen.”