US military defense chief says Houthis need to pay a price, vows to step up attacks

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the US military would be stepping up its attacks on Yemen’s Houthis because of its continued attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

“You’ll see us increasingly place — use all the elements that are available to us in our national power to really begin to dial this down, dial it back,” Austin said about US efforts to degrade Houthi capabilities and their ability to conduct attacks.

Washington noticeably increased the tempo of its preemptive strikes on Yemeni group last month, including deploying B-2 bombers from the US for one operation.

Another US attack two weeks ago saw Houthi weapons storage facilities hit inside Yemen in an attack that involved the US Air Force and US Navy assets, including the F-35C.
That attack was in response to a barrage of Houthi drones, anti-ship ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles that targeted US Navy destroyers in the region.

The Houthis have also stepped up attacks on Israel. The latest US response also aimed to degrade the group’s ability to “threaten regional partners,” the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said after the Nov. 10 operations.