Videos | Why the US airstrikes won’t stop Houthis: ‘They may even retaliate’

Just as US President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, videos doing rounds on social media showed US fighter jets, including F-15 Eagles, carrying out large-scale airstrikes on Houthi military infrastructure in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

Footages also showed what appeared to be Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport burning as the Houthi-run Health Ministry claimed the US strikes killed over 13 people in a residential neighbourhood in Sanaa’s northern Shouab district.

The airstrikes come a few days after the Iranian proxy group announced that it would resume attacks on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel’s latest blockade on Gaza. To this, Trump promised to use “overwhelming lethal force”.

“Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defences to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,” Trump said in a social media post. “No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.”

What experts think

As Trump’s biggest military campaign so far in the second administration gets going, geo-political experts think the action is unlikely to deter the militant group based in Yemen.

Considering the long history of Houthi resistance, including against the Central Yemen government and Saudi Arabia-led coalition, the current US campaign is not enough, according to Daniel E. Mouton, a senior fellow at Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. “Given that the Houthis receive support not only from Iran but also from procurement networks in China and Russia, the United States will need to employ more resources than Saturday’s airstrikes,” he wrote in Atlantic Council. Mouton added that these include “diplomatic engagement with Russia and China, additional maritime resources to interdict resupply to the Houthis, and effective pressure on Iran.”

The US seems to be thinking on the same lines, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that he discussed military deterrence operations against the Houthis when he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday.

Possible retaliation

Not only that the group may even retaliate “potentially on the USS Truman strike group in the Red Sea or US bases in the region,” according to Emily Milliken at Atlantic Council. Milliken said the Houthis have proven resilient in the past and were still able to pose a regional threat after successive strikes by the Saudi-led coalition and allied forces. The retaliation could be a message to “Yemenis living under their control, their backers in Tehran, and the wider international community that they remain undeterred by US operations.”

Many think for the US military campaign to be successful, it was important to damage the Houthis command and control sites and their ability to produce and launch missiles and drones.