■ 🕑 8. U.S. Missiles Strike Targets in Yemen Linked to Houthi
   PROXY WAR WITH IRAN
   
   The United States and five of its allies on Thursday carried out
   military strikes against more than a dozen targets in Yemen controlled
   by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, in an expansion of the war in the
   Middle East that the Biden administration had sought to avoid for the
   past three months.
   
   The American-led air and naval strikes came in response to more than two
   dozen Houthi drone and missile attacks against commercial shipping in
   the Red Sea since November, and after warnings to the Houthis in the
   past week from the Biden administration and several international allies
   of serious consequences if the salvos did not stop.
   
   ...
   
   Thursday’s attack drew the United States more deeply into a conflict
   that ignited after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and killed 1,200
   people, according to Israeli officials. The Israeli response has so far
   killed more than 23,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities
   there.
   
   ...
   
   “The United Kingdom will always stand up for freedom of navigation and
   the free flow of trade,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement.
   
   ...
   
   The Houthis, whose military capabilities were honed by more than eight
   years of fighting against a Saudi-led coalition, have greeted the
   prospect of war with the United States with open delight. On Wednesday,
   before the strike, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the militia’s leader,
   threatened to meet an American attack with a fierce response.
   
   “We, the Yemeni people, are not among those who are afraid of America,”
   he said in a televised speech. “We are comfortable with a direct
   confrontation with the Americans.”
   
   ...
   
   Houthi officials say that the sole goal of their attacks is to force
   Israel to halt its military campaign and to allow the free flow of aid
   into Gaza.