Yemen-based Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward a U.S. Navy warship on Jan. 14, U.S. military officials have confirmed.
It wasn’t clear whether the United States would retaliate for the latest attacks, although President Joe Biden has said that he “will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”
The attack on the USS Laboon is one of many that the Houthis—an Islamist group that’s believed to be materially backed by the Iranian regime and was once designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department—have launched on U.S. assets as well as merchant ships in the region in recent weeks. The group stated that the attacks are designed to thwart ships from reaching Israel amid an escalating regional conflict.
The Jan. 14 attack follows U.S. and UK airstrikes that targeted the Houthis inside Yemen last week, triggering fears that the conflict is escalating across the Middle East. The Houthis have ramped up their Red Sea attacks since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorist attacks killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, prompting a lengthy campaign by Israel’s military in Gaza, where Hamas—a designated terrorist group that’s also suspected to be backed by Iran—is based.
In recent weeks, the Houthis have targeted the vital corridor that links Asian and Middle Eastern energy and cargo shipments with the Suez Canal, a key route to Europe, claiming that it’s doing so because of the Gaza war.
The Jan. 14 attack toward the U.S. warship also marked the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since the United States and allied nations began strikes in Yemen on Jan. 12 following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis didn’t immediately acknowledge the attack.
The first day of U.S.-led strikes on Jan. 12 hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets with cruise missiles and bombs launched by fighter jets, warships, and a submarine, according to U.S. officials, who said sites hit included weapon depots, radars, and command centers.
The Houthis have yet to acknowledge the severity of the damage from the strikes but stated that five of the group’s members were killed and six others were injured. U.S. forces followed up with a strike on Jan. 13 targeting a Houthi radar site.
For their part, the Houthis alleged, without providing any details, that the United States struck a site near Hodeida, Yemen, on Jan. 14 at about the same time as the cruise missile fire. The United States and the UK didn’t acknowledge conducting any strikes, suggesting that the blast may have been from a misfiring Houthi missile.
On Jan. 14, the leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, obliquely referenced the widening Houthi attacks on ships during a speech, saying that “the sea has become a battlefield of missiles, drones, and warships” and blaming the U.S. strikes for escalating maritime tensions.
Biden Response
There has been speculation that the State Department will place the Houthis back on its list of designated terrorist groups. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have long been on that list.On Jan. 12, a reporter asked President Biden whether he believes the Yemen-based group is a terrorist group.
A reporter asked the president, “Are you willing to call the Houthis a terrorist group, sir?”
The president responded, “I think they are.”
In the early days of 2021, after taking office, the Biden administration revoked former President Donald Trump’s designation of the Houthis as terrorists. Such a designation would cut them off from the international banking system and would place increased financial pressure on the group.
But President Biden said it’s “irrelevant” whether the Houthis are on the State Department terrorist list.
“It’s irrelevant whether they’re designated. We’ve put together a group of nations that are going to say that if they continue to act and behave as they do, we’ll respond,” he said.
