The United States has conducted another round of strikes against Iran-backed militias not only in Yemen but also in Iraq and Syria. With the fear of tensions evolving into a region-wide full-scale war, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making another visit to the region.
On Friday, February 2nd the U.S. carried out airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, killing nearly 40 people, and hitting more than 85 targets at seven locations. These included command and control headquarters, intelligence centres, rockets and missiles, and drone and ammunition storage sites. The attacks were a response to the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan on the previous weekend.
The U.S. and the United Kingdom turned their attention to Yemen on Saturday, launching attacks against 36 Iran-aligned Houthi targets across thirteen locations, hitting weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers. On Sunday, American forces carried out further airstrikes against five missiles in Yemen, one designed for land attack and the others for targeting ships.
It was the third time that British and American forces have jointly targeted the Houthis, whose attacks on Red Sea shipping in solidarity with Palestinians have disrupted global trade.
Iran has seemingly orchestrated events behind the scenes. Tehran not only played a role in Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on October 7th, but is also instigating the Houthi rebels in Yemen to launch missile attacks against ships crossing the Red Sea. Other Iran-backed groups in the region are Hezbollah, which has fired at Israeli targets at the Lebanese-Israeli border, and Iraqi militias, which have fired on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
U.S. and allied troops in the region have been attacked more than 165 times since mid-October, mostly in Iraq and Syria, but the Jordan deaths were the first from hostile fire during that period.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday threatened the militias with further retaliatory steps:
We intend to take additional strikes, and additional action, to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when our forces are attacked, when our people are killed.
Iran has so far avoided any direct role in the conflict, and the Pentagon has said it does not want war with Iran and does not believe Tehran wants war either.
However, the threat of a further escalation of tensions is clearly there. The Houthis said they would respond to the U.S. air strikes, and Iran’s foreign ministry claimed the continuation of attacks on Yemen was a “worrying threat to international peace and security.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to the region on Sunday where he will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Israel. This is his fifth trip to the region since October. The talks will focus on brokering a deal, with Israeli input, for an extended ceasefire, and to normalise relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Both countries are Washington’s allies in the region, and the U.S. is desperate to counter the threat of Iran—a predominantly Shia Muslim country—by improving relations with the Sunni kingdom.
