Biden Warns He Will Not Hesitate to Order More Strikes

(TotalConservative.com) – President Biden said on January 11th that he ordered strikes on Houthis in Yemen in retaliation for their previous strikes on shipping vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis have said that their efforts are aimed at disrupting the Israeli war effort in Gaza, which they argue is a genocide against the Palestinian people.

Biden said that the U.S. strikes were done in coordination and cooperation with Canadian, British, Australian, and support from the Netherlands. He said they were directed at munitions depots, command headquarters, and other facilities used to attack shipping vessels off the coast of Yemen.

Biden indicated that the Houthis have used suicide drones as well as missiles to attack and harass shipping vessels. Houthis have argued they’re only targeting vessels heading to or coming from Israeli ports, which has been disputed.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) suggested the strikes were appropriate and late, adding that former President Donald Trump listed the Houthis as a terrorist organization. Biden reversed that decision as one of many Trump-era reversals upon entering office.

Cotton suggested in a written statement that the strikes were terrorizing and threatening American troops in the region. He blamed Biden’s policy reversals for emboldening the aggressive factions in the region, including the Houthis. He also suggested that Iran was responsible for the use of attack drones and cruise missiles coming out of Yemen, a relatively poor country.

Cotton added that Iran has only historically been deterred by “devastating retaliation” and cited Trump’s killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and Reagan attacking its navy in 1988.

The strikes have already led to Houthi retaliation in the region. U.S. jets knocked out a cruise missile launched toward a destroyer, the USS Laboon, on Sunday, January 14th. The Shiite militia had previously launched suicide drones and missiles at shipping vessels, some ships have been hijacked as well. The attacks led shipping companies to change their travel routes and increase shipping costs to the region.