Hell will rain down on Houthis: US-Iran proxy war heats up

International freedom of navigation, future Middle East security arrangements at stake

- Jonathan Eyal

Yemen's Houthi authorities have claimed responsibility for drone and missile strikes against the US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman on March 16, allegedly in retaliation for a wave of deadly US raids across Yemen.

Mr Yahya al-Sarea, the group's military spokesman, said Houthi ground, air and naval forces fired 18 missiles and conducted a drone strike against the vessel "and its affiliated warships in the northern Red Sea" in response to the US raids.

He added: "This US aggression will only increase the steadfastness, faith and resilience of Yemen and its steadfast, faithful and struggling people."

But an unnamed senior Pentagon official in Washington briefed the American media that US warships had shot down "a dozen attack drones" and that the US naval strike group led by the USS Harry S. Truman "had been unaffected".

What remains beyond doubt, however, is the seriousness of the current confrontation between Yemen's Houthis and the US, which is guaranteed to get more violent.

At stake is not only the international freedom of navigation, which the Houthis are endangering, but the broader looming showdown between the US and Iran, which could well decide security arrangements throughout the Middle East.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Houthis have attacked more than 100 ships in the Red Sea and fired rockets at Israel.

The Islamist militia, which controls much of Yemen, disrupted one of the world's most important commercial sea routes, which passes through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait on Yemen's coastline and connects Asian and European markets.

The longer route vessels must take to avoid the Bab-el-Mandeb added about two weeks to shipping times and around 35 per cent to international shipping costs. It also resulted in an overall rise in maritime insurance premiums.