Thursday’s retaliatory attacks by U.S. and British forces on Iranian-backed Houthis inside Yemen have prompted support and condemnation from the international community. The retaliation follows weeks of Houthi attacks against vessels in the Red Sea.
U.S. defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. and British attacks were launched from fighter jets, surface vessels and submarines. The attacks were carried out with the help of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Bahrain.
In a statement, a NATO spokesperson said the “strikes were defensive and designed to preserve freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways.”
Likewise, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement, noting a January 10 U.N. resolution that said navigational rights and freedoms must be respected and that “states have the right to respond to these attacks, in accordance with international law.”
The statement added, “France will continue shouldering its responsibilities and contributing to maritime security in the area in conjunction with its partners.”
The Houthi rebels issued a video statement, featuring Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, who called the attacks “brutal aggression” carried out as part of U.S. and British support for “the continuation of Israeli crimes in Gaza.” He said the attacks killed five people and wounded six others.
“The American and British enemy bears full responsibility for its criminal aggression against our Yemeni people, and it will not go unanswered and unpunished,” he said.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani “strongly slammed the military strikes by the U.S. and Britain,” in a statement, calling it “an arbitrary move” that “clearly breached Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and was against international laws and regulations.”
NATO ally Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the strikes “a disproportionate use of force,” just as Israel is doing in Gaza, and accused the U.S. and Britain of trying “to turn the Red Sea into a sea of blood.” He accused both countries of escalating tensions in the region.
Russia also condemned the attacks, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmtry Peskov calling the strikes “illegitimate,” and accused the United States and Britain of “trying to adjust the international law system to its actions.”