Trump attacks Yemen's Houthis and threatens Iran

BarcelonaUS President Donald Trump has announced a wave of attacks against the Houthis in Yemen, in what is believed to be the largest armed action since the start of his second term. There are believed to be dozens of targets, an operation that could be the start of a large-scale air and sea offensive against the allies of Iran and Hamas. The attacks have left at least nine dead, according to Houthi authorities. The Yemeni group has carried out around 100 attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, which have had a significant impact on global maritime trade. The Biden administration had also attacked Houthi positions, with support from the UK, but had failed to restore stability to the region..

"Today I ordered the United States military to begin decisive and powerful military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen," Trump said in a message to Truth Social. "They have waged a relentless campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American and other ships, aircraft, and drones." "Your time is up. And your attacks must end immediately. If not, you will experience hell like you've never seen before," he added, threatening to use "overwhelming lethal force."

In the post, the US president also threatens Iran, which supports the Houthis in their regional dispute with US ally Saudi Arabia. It is unclear how this new offensive will affect Iran, with whom Trump wants to negotiate an agreement to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons, under the threat of a military attack if the ayatollahs' regime rejects the negotiation. In the post, Trump warns: "On Iran: Support for Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American people; their President, who has been given one of the largest terms in presidential history, or the world's shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because the United States will hold you fully responsible."

According to information published on the New York Times, The US attacks have reportedly hit an arsenal, but they are only the first of a larger wave. This week, the Houthis announced they would resume attacks on Israeli ships in protest of the blockade of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip ordered by Benjamin Netanyahu's government two weeks ago. The actions had halted on January 19, when the ceasefire in Gaza agreed between Israel and Hamas went into effect. Sources cited by the newspaper itself suggest that the US offensive could last for days, with the aim of destroying the Houthis' arsenals, which are underground, as well as many of their weapons manufacturing facilities.

Born in the 1990s, the Houthis (also called Ansar Allah or Followers of God) are a Zaidi Islamist movement, the Shia minority in Yemen. They emerged as a response to the corruption of Ali Abudullah Saleh's regime, which turned the country into one of the poorest on the planet and the poorest in the Arab world. Yemen experienced the revolutionary wave that shook the Arab world in 2011, and the Houthis eventually seized the capital, Sana'a, in September 2014, forcing people to flee to the southern city of Aden.