Middle East crisis: Houthis say U.S., U.K. will pay a 'heavy price' after Yemen strikes

Tens of thousands of Yemenis gathered in several cities on Friday to hear their leaders condemn U.S. and British strikes on their country in response to attacks by Houthi militants on Red Sea shipping.

The U.S. and Britain carried out dozens of air strikes on Houthi military targets overnight, widening a wave of regional conflict unleashed by Israel's war in Gaza.

"Your strikes on Yemen are terrorism," said Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, referring to the United States. "The United States is the Devil."

After Gaza's Hamas rulers attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's assault on Gaza, the Iran-aligned Houthis began attacking shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles towards Israel, saying they would not stop until Israel's offensive stopped.

The Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, said they would target all ships heading to Israel, more than 1,000 miles away, and warned international shipping companies against using Israeli ports.

-Reuters

DOD Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder spoke to MSNC's "Morning Joe" Friday, saying the strikes were aimed aimed at degrading and disrupting the Houthis.

"What you saw last night was a multi-national effort with the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, to conduct strikes against Houthi targets that included missile storage facilities, coastal radar, UAV storage facilities," he said.

Watch the full vid here.

Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by China's Geely, will next week pause output at its plant in Gent in Belgium for three days due to delays caused by the security situation in the Red Sea, the company said on Friday.

A delivery of gear boxes has been delayed, a spokesperson for the Sweden-based auto maker said, the second company after Tesla to disclose an interruption to production because of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

Car deliveries, production targets and its other European plant in Gothenburg, Sweden, were not affected by the pause, the spokesperson said.

The attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militants, in solidarity with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in its fight against Israel in Gaza, have disrupted one of the world's most important shipping routes, forcing container vessels to travel via southern Africa and avoid the Suez Canal.

That adds about 10 days and $1 million fuel costs to a journey from Asia to Europe.

-Reuters

The beer industry should prove resilient through looming supply chain challenges that look set to impact some markets, the chief executive of Budweiser owner AB InBev
said Friday.

Beer has a "characteristic as a category that is incredible, which is beer is local," Michel Doukeris told CNBC's Arabile Gumede.

Read the full story here.

The U.S.-U.K. strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen were "necessary, legal, proportionate and right," British Foreign Minister David Cameron said in a video address.

The minister said the coordinated offensive followed multiple Houthi shipping assaults in the Red Sea, including against the U.K.-vessel HMS Diamond, which included 18 drones and a number of missiles.

"There have been warning after warning, but the attacks have continued," Cameron said. "In all, we've seen 26 attacks against ships since the middle of November. The Houthis should be clear that we are serious when we say these actions against UK and other ships are completely unacceptable. And it's right that we've taken this action."

In the wake of the U.S.-British incursion, a Houthi official said that the group would continue to target Israeli ships — the justification of all of its attacks to date, even when striking against vessels that had no Israeli flag, crew or affiliation.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The international community's reactions over the U.S.-U.K. strikes against Houthi facilities in Yemen have diverged, with the Middle East's Oman signaling the action went against its counsel.

"We are deeply concerned by US / U.K. attack on targets in Yemen. This goes against our advice and will only add fuel to an extremely dangerous situation," Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said on social media, according to a Google translation. "I urge all parties to exercise restraint and focus on a ceasefire in Gaza now."

On Thursday, Iran, which supports the Houthis and Israeli foe Hamas, hijacked a ship in the Gulf of Oman, raising concerns over the security of naval transit in those waters.

Russia, which often takes a position adverse to that of the U.S., has said the two nations' attack is "not legitimate from the point of view of international law," according to Google-translated comments made by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and reported by Russian state news agency Tass.

In the West, countries such the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Spain and France have either voiced support for the U.S.-British action or said the Houthis bear responsibility for the escalation.

"Today's US & UK response is aimed at Huthi military targets in #Yemen to prevent further attacks, and is consistent with the UN Charter. Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea," German's foreign ministry said on the X social media platform, previously known as Twitter.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The U.K. government assessed that Houthi attacks against vessels in the Red Sea, including of British-flagged ships, would continue "unless action is taken to deter them," it said in a freshly published legal position on the U.S.-British strikes in Yemen.

"Military intervention to strike carefully identified targets in order to effectively downgrade the Houthi's capabilities and deter further attacks was lawfully taken," it said. "It was necessary and proportionate to respond to attacks by the Houthis and this was the only feasible means available to deal with such attacks."

The government added that international law allows the U.K. to use force in circumstances of self-defense and says that it will notify the U.N. Security Council of its actions.

Rishi Sunak's British administration has come under question over its decision to coordinate with Washington on a strike against Houthi facilities in Yemen, with the domestic Liberal Democrats party calling for Parliament to hold a retrospective vote on the action.

The British leader does not plan to open such a vote, but will make a statement to Parliament on Monday about the offensive, Sunak's spokesperson said Friday, according to Reuters.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The U.S. and Britain are trying to turn the Red Sea into a "sea of blood" with their strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, according to Reuters.

In a Google-translated update, Turkish state news agency Anadolu reports the Turkish leader also called the U.S.-U.K. attacks a "disproportionate use of force," adding that "Israel also uses this disproportionate force in Palestine."

Erdogan has staunchly criticized Israel's military campaign and civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, dubbing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the "butcher of Gaza" and declining to further speak to him. Israel says it only seeks to demilitarize Hamas, following the Palestinian militant group's terror attacks of Oct. 7.

The Iran-backed Houthis have been citing solidarity with Palestinian people as the reason behind weeks of their attacks against shipping in the Red Sea, which prompted the U.K.-U.S. response.

— Ruxandra Iordache

U.S. and U.K. strikes carried out against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen have thrust the Iran-backed group into the global spotlight.

The militia group, officially known as Ansar Allah or "Supporters of God," was formed in the early 1990s and named after its founder Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi.

In 2014, the Houthi movement took over Yemen's capital of Sanaa and seized control over much of the north of the country. This prompted a broader conflict with Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional foe at the time, which has since culminated in a situation in Yemen that the U.N. has described as "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world."

Yemeni officials have repeatedly said that Iran and the militant group Hezbollah have provided military and financial support to the Houthis, a claim that Iranian and Hezbollah officials have denied.

Read the full story here.

— Sam Meredith

Maersk, one of the largest global container shipping firms, welcomed appeals to cease attacks against commercial vessels and a larger naval presence in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where ships have come under Houthi threat.

"We hope that these interventions and a larger naval presence will eventually lead to a lowered threat environment allowing maritime commerce to transit through the Red Sea and once again return to using the Suez Canal as a gateway," the company said in an emailed statement, adding that "ultimately, a de-escalation of the conflict level in the region is needed."

On Thursday, Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc stressed it remained unclear whether passage through the Red Sea would be able to resume in "days, weeks or months," noting that ongoing trade flow disruptions could impair global economic growth.

The company is diverting its ships from traversing the Red Sea.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The British Liberal Democrats are calling for Parliament to be recalled for scrutiny and a retrospective vote on the U.S.-U.K. strikes carried out against Houthi targets.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Layla Moran, the party's foreign affairs spokesperson, said there is "absolutely" still a need to carry out a vote on the attack, despite it having already been executed.

"The convention, particularly from 2003 onwards, had been that Parliament, whenever there is any kind of military action, does have its say. And it's not just the vote, it's also the scrutiny of the debate," she said.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government and the U.S. have characterized the strikes against Houthi positions as an act of self-defense, given the Yemen militant group's weeks-long threats and assaults against shipping in the Red Sea.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The U.S.-British strike against Houthi targets "will not go unanswered and unpunished," the group said in an official statement circulated by politburo member Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti on social media.

"The Yemeni armed forces will not hesitate to target sources of threat and all hostile targets on land and at sea in defense of Yemen, its sovereignty and independence," the statement said.

A senior Houthi official had said that Washington and London should prepare to pay a "heavy price" for the perceived aggression.

In a separate Google-translated update, Bukhaiti said the attack against Houthi positions "came to meet the electoral needs" of U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

"Our war is not with the American and British people, but rather with the ruling gang in Washington and London that have caused many tragedies in the world, and everyone is responsible for bringing them down," he said.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Oil futures added more than 3% after U.S-U.K. strikes against Houthi positions and the Iranian seizure of a tanker in the Gulf of Oman worsened tensions in the Middle East.

The Ice Brent contract with March delivery was trading at $79.83 per barrel at 10:25 London time, up by 3.13% from the Thursday settlement. The Nymex WTI contract with February expiry was at $74.42 per barrel, higher by 3.33% from the previous day's close.

Oil prices are highly sensitive to turbulence in the Middle East, which hosts vast crude supply resources and neighbors key waterways. The U.S. and Britain launched strikes against Houthi targets, citing the defense of Red Sea passageways after a spate of attacks against shipping from the Yemen militant group. A Houthi official has since said that the faction will continue to take aim at Israeli vessels.

Concerns have also mounted after the Iranian navy on Thursday captured an oil tanker previously involved in a dispute with the U.S., as the vessel was traveling through the Gulf of Oman.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The U.S.-British strikes against Houthi targets were "based on the right of self-defence," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country offered support for the offensive.

"The Houthi attacks are a clear violation of international law and pose a threat to maritime personnel and trade flows," he said on X, formerly known as Twitter, noting that the U.S.-British effort aims to defend free naval passage.

"The Netherlands, with its long history as a sea-faring country, places significant importance on the right of free passage and supports this targeted operation," he added.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The U.S. and U.K. have been "moderate" in their attack against the Houthi group so far, but Washington's regional military capacities could allow it to bolster its offensive, said Victor Abramowicz of Charles Darwin University.

"Given the scale of the US presence in that region, there's absolutely the potential for the Americans to hit a lot harder," he told CNBC's Dan Murphy, noting that the U.K.-U.S. assault to date has been "quite militarily focused" in its targeting.

The U.S. Air Force said it struck more than 60 targets across 16 Houthi militant locations as part of the attack, launching more than 100 precision-guided munitions.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Israel is on Friday defending itself against genocide accusations levied by South Africa at the International Court of Justice

The ICJ, sometimes dubbed the World Court of Hague, heard South Africa's allegations on Thursday.

It has accused Israel of genocide, claiming the country's campaign in the Gaza Strip is disproportionate to the Oct. 7 terror attacks perpetrated by Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israel says it is not at war with the Palestinian people, but with Hamas, which it has accused of deliberately entrenching its military positions at civilian sites, such as hospitals and schools, in the Gaza enclave.

Tal Becker, legal adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has begun Israel's court response, referencing Hamas' role in the conflict. "If there have been acts that can be characterized as genocidal, they have been perpetrated against Israel," he said.

Questioning South Africa's accusations, he added: "It is a matter of public record that South Africa enjoys close relations with Hamas."

— Ruxandra Iordache

No further airstrikes against Houthi targets are "immediately planned," U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told the BBC, after Britain and the U.S. carried out an attack on Yemen positions.

"We were confident that these limited, proportionate, necessary strikes that went in last night was necessary to disrupt the Houthis' ability to attack our warships that are protecting shipping in the Red Sea," he said.

Heappey said the offensive was "exclusively an act of self-defence," following a spate of Houthi attacks against shipping in recent weeks in the Red Sea.

The U.S. and U.K. must prepare to pay a "heavy price" for the overnight airstrike carried out against Yemen, according to Hussein al-Ezzi, Houthi deputy foreign minister.

"Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines, and warplanes, and America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression," he said in a Google-translated update on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Other Houthi officials have likewise criticized the attack as unjustified and said hostilities against Israeli ships in the Red Sea will continue.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russia requested an open briefing at the U.N. Security Council on Jan. 12 with regard to the U.S. and U.K. strikes in Yemen, the Russian mission to the U.N. noted on the X social media platform.

Initially divided in its loyalties between Israel and Iran, Moscow has progressively stepped in to call for a cessation of Israeli hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

Prior to the overnight strikes in Yemen, the Russian Foreign Ministry had expressed concerns that the UNSC is "still unable to fulfill its direct mandate" in the Israeli-Palestine conflict because of U.S. opposition, according to Russian state news outlet Tass.

— Ruxandra Iordache

A senior Houthi official has slammed the overnight U.S.-U.K. strikes against Yemen as "barbaric" and "terrorist," saying the offensive will ensure the continuation of violence in the Gaza Strip.

"The US-British strikes are barbaric, terrorist, and are a deliberate and unjustified aggression that reflects a brutal psychology," Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen's Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said in a Google-translated update on social media platform X.

He added that the assault, which the U.S. said was a response to Houthi maritime attacks in the Red Sea, was "blatant and "unjustified" and "will not go unnoticed," saying the militant group will release another statement.

The Houthi have expressed solidarity with fellow Iran-backed militants Hamas since the start of Israel's campaign in Gaza, after the Palestinian group's terror attacks of Oct. 7.

— Ruxandra Iordache

A senior Houthi official said the group will continue its attacks in the Red Sea, following U.S.-Britain strikes against Yemen.

"We affirm that there is absolutely no justification for this aggression against Yemen, as there was no threat to international navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas, and the targeting was and will continue to affect Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine," Mohammed Abdulsalam, Houthi negotiator and spokesperson, said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.

He pledged that the militant group will continue its solidarity with the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip and characterized the overnight attacks against Yemen as "foolishness" and a "treacherous aggression" in support of longtime U.S. ally Israel.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said that his nation and several Western allies undertook strikes at "a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world's most vital waterways."

— Ruxandra Iordache