We have some significant breaking news to send to us,
as we have learned now that the US and British
military have launched strikes against targets in Yemen,
areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis.
This is according to two US officials.
This, of course, comes in the wake of those Houthi
rebel strikes on ships in the Red Sea,
those strikes on commercial ships that we've been talking about
now for weeks.
It is of course the potential for a big escalation
of the growing conflict in the Middle East.
We've got team coverage tonight.
I want to start with Gabe Gutierrez,
who is live for us at the White House.
Gabe, what do we know and where does this go?
Oh well, hi there, Hallie.
As you mentioned, two sources confirmed to us that the
US and British forces have started
strikes against Houthi targets inside Yemen.
Now this is an escalation.
Holly there the US have been trying to
prevent or had retaliatory strikes against Houthi forces before.
But these are the first land based retaliatory strikes that
the US
has undergone. Now they targeted multiple locations inside Yemen with
fighter jets and Tomahawks fired from Navy ships.
Now Hallie this comes after the White House has repeatedly
warned the Houthis over the last several weeks to essentially
knock it off.
Now. None of these warnings had apparently worked.
Today the Iranian Navy sees an oil tanker off the
coast of Oman raising the stakes here.
Of course, the Houthis being backed by Iran according to
the National Security Council here and the US had been
considering targeting
these land based positions for some time now.
The US and the UK had already responded by shooting
down missiles and drones fired by the Houthis.
the US Navy recently sank with the boats that had
fired on commercial ships.
Now today Secretary of State Lincoln was in Cairo and
he said I don't think the conflict is escalating but
there are danger points,
according to the Secretary of State.
But again the breaking news there,
Hallie, that two US officials confirmed to NBC News that
the US and British military have launched strikes against the
Houthi
militant group inside Yemen for the first time.
Hallie Raff Sanchez, I want to go to You Now
live for us in Israel,
in Tel Aviv and Raff.
We have talked now for weeks about the potential for
a broader regional escalation,
particularly after these attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea.
We know there have been more than two dozen on
commercial ships,
commercial tankers. This has been an issue that the US
and allies around the world have been trying to get
a handle on.
This has been an issue for two months.
Hallie and the Houthis, week after week,
attack after attack, have been defying the US,
defying America's allies, and continuing these strikes on commercial ships
heading through the Red Sea through that narrow Strait called
the Babel Mandeb.
Around 20% of global trade disrupted by these Houthi attacks,
according to the US government.
You have ships rather than going through the Red Sea,
through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean,
are now taking this very long route around the southern
coast of Africa.
The Houthi attacks have been driving up the cost of
shipping costs which have been passed on to consumers all
over the world,
and it has been, it has become a situation that
has become untenable from the perspective of the White House,
from the perspective of the British government.
You've heard Secretary Blinken, as he's been here in the
region over the last week saying again and again there
will be consequences if these Houthi attacks continue.
And they have continued. Just yesterday,
according to the US and British militaries,
the Houthis launching their largest,
most complex attack yet, 18 drones,
3 missiles fired at ships in the Red Sea.
Despite those warnings from the US,
from the UK, these strikes have been very highly telegraphed.
Tally, the Houthis have known they were coming.
They have put out warnings of their own saying that
they will respond to any American attacks and they have
options in terms of targets,
commercial ships in the Red Sea,
American bases in the region,
but also Saudi Arabia oil facilities there,
which they've targeted many, many times in the past.
So we're seeing these American and British strikes coming now.
The question is, how will the Houthis respond?