DEFENSE
Inside Biden’s decision to strike the Houthis
The administration had been under pressure to respond
to the Iran-backed attacks.
By LARA
SELIGMAN and LAUREN EGAN
01/11/2024
10:28 PM EST
Updated:
01/11/2024 10:49 PM EST
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/11/biden-houthis-strike-yemen-iran-00135242
President
Joe Biden was still on his holiday getaway in St. Croix when he spoke with his
national security team on the first morning of 2024. The Iran-backed Houthis
had launched yet another attack on international shipping in the Red Sea, and
the president was ready to discuss the possibility of a military response.
The
president’s guidance was twofold. On the diplomatic front, he directed his team
to push harder for a United Nations resolution to condemn the attacks. On the
military side, he ordered the Pentagon to develop options to strike back at the
Houthis.
That New
Year’s Day meeting ultimately resulted in the U.S. and its allies launching a
massive assault on Houthi targets in Yemen 10 days later on Thursday in
retaliation for the group’s repeated missile and drone attacks on commercial
shipping in international waters since November.
American
and British fighter jets, along with U.S. warships and submarines, bombarded
Houthi military sites across Yemen, focusing on launch and storage sites for
drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. Among the vessels taking part was the
USS Florida, a guided-missile submarine that fires Tomahawk cruise missiles,
according to a person familiar. F/A-18 Super Hornets from the aircraft carrier
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower were also involved.
The fact
that Biden did not order the retaliatory strikes for more than a week after
directing his team to draw up military options was in line with his well-known
desire to exhaust diplomatic options and avoid dragging the United States into
another Middle East war. But the president made clear in a Thursday night
statement that the latest attacks had crossed a red line.
“Today’s
defensive action follows this extensive diplomatic campaign and Houthi rebels’
escalating attacks against commercial vessels,” Biden said. “These targeted
strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not
tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of
navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes.”
This
account is based on comments by a senior administration official and a senior
military official, both of whom were granted anonymity to provide sensitive
details shortly after the operation.
The
Thursday strikes ended weeks of growing pressure on Biden to respond militarily
to the Houthi attacks. The U.S. military had drawn up more forceful options as
early as the first week of December, but at that point, senior Biden officials
agreed that striking the Houthis directly was not the best course.
U.S.
officials had been worried that hitting the Houthis, who say the attacks on
commercial ships are a demonstration of support for the Palestinians, would
provoke Iran into its own response and risk widening the Israel-Hamas war into
a regional conflict.
During the
Jan. 1 meeting, Biden directed his team to issue a final warning statement,
together with international partners, before taking military action.
Unknown to
the other national security leaders, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had just
undergone surgery to treat prostate cancer 10 days earlier. Later on Jan. 1, he
would be taken in an ambulance to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
for complications from that procedure. Austin’s doctors concluded his symptoms
stemmed from a urinary tract infection and transferred him to the intensive
care unit for further treatment.
From Jan. 2
until Jan. 5, Austin’s deputy, Kathleen Hicks, was effectively in charge of the
Pentagon while on vacation in Puerto Rico. The rest of Biden’s national
security team were not made aware of Austin’s hospitalization until Thursday.
Since resuming his full duties on Jan. 5, Austin has continued to call in to
meetings from his hospital bed.
‘Let’s face
it, they dodged a bullet’ — Leon Panetta explained what exactly went wrong for
Lloyd Austin
On Jan. 3,
the U.S. and 13 other countries issued a statement warning that the Houthis
would bear the full “consequences” of any further attacks against commercial
vessels. But that did little to deter the Houthis.
On Tuesday,
the Houthis launched their largest and most brazen attack yet, marking a
turning point for U.S. officials. The group launched a volley of drones and
missiles targeting U.S. commercial and military ships. U.S. and U.K. naval
forces shot down nearly 20 drones and three missiles, preventing the severe
damage the Houthis had intended.
In the wake
of the attack, Biden convened his national security team for another meeting
that day. Hunkered down at the White House with no public obligations on his
schedule, Biden was again presented with military options. At the end of the
meeting, Biden decided it was time to move forward. He instructed Austin, still
working from the hospital, to carry out the strikes.
The
operation took time to coordinate because the other nations involved wanted to
understand the legal basis for the strikes, a senior DOD official said, along
with precisely what the U.S. was asking them to contribute.
The U.S.
forces were joined by four Royal Air Force Typhoons, supported by a Voyager
aerial tanker, according to a statement from the U.K. Ministry of Defense. The
jets used Paveway IV guided bombs to launch precision strikes on two Houthi
facilities: a site at Bani in northwestern Yemen used to launch drones and an
airfield at Abbs that used to launch cruise missiles and drones over the Red
Sea.
Both U.S.
and U.K. officials said the strikes were designed to minimize risks to
civilians.
“Early
indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has
taken a blow, and our commitment to protecting the sea-lanes, through which
some 15 percent of the world’s shipping passes and which is vital to the global
economy, has been amply demonstrated,” according to the statement.
U.S.
officials said while they have not yet seen a Houthi response to the attacks,
they are prepared for that outcome.
“We will
not be surprised to see some sort of response,” said the senior administration
official.
Paul
McLeary and Alexander Ward contributed to this report
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