Analysis | US presses ahead with ‘least bad’ option in confronting Houthis in Yemen
- US President Joe Biden acknowledges air strikes won’t stop Houthi attacks
- Iran-backed militant group in Yemen has disrupted commercial shipping
US officials acknowledge that air strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen won’t deter the group from attacks that have roiled commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Yet that doesn’t mean the military campaign will stop any time soon.
US President Joe Biden candidly described the dilemma Thursday when he was asked about the efforts to weaken Houthi capabilities after the Iran-backed group’s series of drone and missile strikes disrupted shipping in in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital trade waterway.
“Are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes,” Biden told reporters in comments that fit his long habit of saying the quiet part out loud.
Analysts and outside critics - not to mention the Houthis themselves - have said the aerial military campaign won’t prevent them from firing on more ships, especially if the US refuses to target the group’s main backer, Iran.
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US-led coalition strikes Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen
Yet in the absence of any better options for now, the Biden administration may have no choice.
