Capitals: Europe and the Arabs - agencies
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the strikes by Washington and London on Yemen represent a threat to regional and global security, and we call on the international community to condemn the British-American attack on Yemen, according to what Cairo News Channel reported in breaking news.
The commander of the US Air Forces in the Middle East said that the raids on the Houthis targeted command centers, ammunition stores and launching systems, adding: “We used more than 100 guided missiles in the strikes on the Houthis,” according to urgent news from the Cairo News Channel.
The British Defense Secretary said: The threat to navigation made participation in the attack on the Houthi positions obligatory.
France said that the Houthis bear a very heavy responsibility for the escalation in the region, and France reaffirms its condemnation of the Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, as reported by Cairo News Channel in breaking news.
The US Department of Defense, the Pentagon, announced that US and British Air Force fighters carried out raids targeting sites belonging to the Houthi militia in Yemen.
The British newspaper The Guardian said that the American and British strikes against the Houthis in Yemen may drag US President Joe Biden further into a regional war that he sought to avoid.
Biden had announced that the United States and Britain had "successfully" directed strikes at the Houthis in response to the Iranian-backed group's attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Biden said in a statement, "At my direction, American military forces, in cooperation with Britain and with the support of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, carried out successful strikes against a number of targets in Yemen that the Houthis are using to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the most vital waterways in the world."
The US President described the strikes as a "direct response" to "unprecedented" attacks launched by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea, which included "the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles."
The Guardian quoted US officials as saying that if the Houthis were not deterred, their capabilities could at least deteriorate, and missile sites could be blown up and command centers destroyed.
The Guardian noted that some analysts argue that the American-British strikes could strengthen the Houthis, raise their status in the so-called “axis of resistance” led by Iran against Israel and the West, and make them a global party.
But the newspaper saw that what is most frightening is that after these strikes, the United States, Britain and their allies have become one step closer to a direct confrontation with Iran. The Guardian quoted a high-ranking US administration official as saying that Iran is practically involved in conducting these attacks, and provides information and intelligence to the Houthis. It gave them the same abilities they used to launch their attacks.
The official explained that the US administration's response policy will be to adhere to a campaign of economic pressure and isolation that the United States has led against Tehran over the years. But any efforts to mitigate the Houthi threat to ships will likely require more, including strong measures to prevent the Houthis from replenishing their weapons supplies, which in turn means stopping ships coming from Iran.
Until now, the United States is planning more attacks if the Houthis continue to harass maritime trade, hoping that at some point they will change their calculations of loss and gain.
The official, whose name was not mentioned by the newspaper, said that this may or may not be the final word on the matter, and when Washington has more to say or do, it will reveal it.