Yemen Files - Part 3
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November 2023. Houthi forces began attacking Red Sea shipping. January 2024: US and UK launched airstrikes on a country already destroyed.
On November 19 2023, Houthi forces seized the Galaxy Leader, a British-owned, Japanese-operated cargo ship, taking 25 crew members hostage. By late 2023 they were routinely attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, stating the operations were a response to Israeli military operations in Gaza. UKMTO and US CENTCOM documented over 100 attacks. On January 11 2024, the US and UK launched Operation Poseidon Archer, conducting airstrikes on Houthi positions inside Yemen. A country already recording 227,000 indirect deaths from nine years of war was now struck again by new actors for new stated reasons.
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November 19 2023 · Galaxy Leader seized · 25 crew hostage · Red Sea02 / 07
November 19 2023. Houthi forces seized the Galaxy Leader. 25 crew taken hostage in the Red Sea.
On November 19 2023, Houthi forces boarded and seized the Galaxy Leader, a British-owned, Japanese-operated cargo ship, in the Red Sea. 25 crew members were taken hostage. The seizure was documented by US CENTCOM and UKMTO as the first major escalation of the Houthi campaign against commercial shipping. The crew were held for months. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree stated that the operations targeted vessels linked to Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The Pentagon documented that by mid-2024 more than 65 countries had direct connections to the ships that had been attacked, through the flagging state, the origin of goods, or the nationalities of crew members. Before October 2023, 10 to 15 percent of global seaborne trade, including 25 to 30 percent of container traffic, had passed through the Suez Canal. Dry bulk carrier traffic through Suez was down approximately 80 percent by June 2024. Shipping prices for a standard 40-foot container were up 233 percent compared to June 2023.
Source: US CENTCOM statement, November 2023 · UKMTO incident reports · Wilson Center, Houthis in the Red Sea, 2024 · Pentagon briefing, mid-2024
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UKMTO · 100+ attacks documented · Red Sea and Gulf of Aden · 2023-202403 / 07
Over 100 documented attacks on commercial vessels. UKMTO and US CENTCOM both recorded the operations.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) maintained a live incident tracker of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from November 2023 onward. US CENTCOM issued daily operational updates documenting each incident. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's independent tracker cross-referenced both sources and confirmed over 100 documented attacks on commercial and military vessels by mid-2024. Most Houthi missiles and drones were intercepted or missed their targets. A handful of vessels sustained significant damage.
In response, the US established Operation Prosperity Guardian on December 18 2023, a coalition of more than 20 countries with a mandate to protect international shipping. The operation did not end the attacks. On January 11 2024, the US and UK separately launched Operation Poseidon Archer, conducting the first offensive airstrikes against Houthi military positions inside Yemen. The Houthis subsequently added American and British vessels to their declared target list.
Source: UKMTO incident reports · US CENTCOM · Washington Institute for Near East Policy incident tracker · Wilson Center, Timeline: Houthi Attacks
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January 11 2024 · Operation Poseidon Archer · US and UK airstrikes inside Yemen04 / 07
January 11 2024. US and UK launched Operation Poseidon Archer. Airstrikes on Houthi positions inside Yemen.
Operation Poseidon Archer was announced by US CENTCOM on January 11 2024. The joint US-UK operation conducted airstrikes on Houthi military positions across multiple Yemeni governorates, targeting missile and drone launch sites, storage facilities and radar installations. The strikes were described by both governments as defensive measures to degrade Houthi capability to attack commercial shipping. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree stated the group would continue and escalate its operations in response.
The country being struck was already the subject of nine years of coalition airstrikes, a near-total collapse of its healthcare system, a famine confirmed by the UN, and an estimated 377,000 deaths by the end of 2021. WFP had reported in early 2024 that it was just 7 percent funded for the first half of the year. The new strikes by new actors for stated reasons connected to a separate conflict added a third layer of violence to a population already at the documented limits of survival.
Source: US CENTCOM, Operation Poseidon Archer statement, January 11 2024 · WFP Yemen funding report 2024 · UNDP, Yemen impact assessment 2021
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Strikes continued through 2024 · WFP: 21 million needed aid · Compound crisis05 / 07
The strikes continued through 2024 and into 2025. A population already at famine level struck by new bombardment.
US and UK strikes on Houthi positions inside Yemen continued through 2024, with CENTCOM issuing regular operational updates documenting each round of strikes. Simultaneously, WFP reported that 21 million Yemenis, approximately two-thirds of the population, still required humanitarian assistance. The compound effect of nine years of coalition war, an active blockade on Hodeida, a collapsed healthcare system, and new airstrikes by a second coalition created what aid organisations described as an impossible operating environment.
The Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping also had an unintended consequence for Yemeni civilians: the diversion of commercial shipping away from the Red Sea route reduced commercial goods entering through Hodeida port, adding economic pressure to a population already documented as food insecure. The same port whose disruption had contributed to 223,000 indirect deaths was now operating under new constraints generated by the Houthis' own campaign.
Source: US CENTCOM operational updates 2024 · WFP Yemen situation reports · UN OCHA Yemen documentation
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MSF operating throughout · Healthcare near-collapsed · New war on existing crisis06 / 07
MSF operated in Yemen throughout the new strikes. A healthcare system already near-collapsed absorbing another layer of war.
MSF documented maintaining operations in hospitals and health centres across Yemen throughout the 2024 US and UK strikes. The organisation had operated continuously in Yemen since 2015, adapting to successive waves of coalition airstrikes, the cholera outbreak of 2.5 million cases, the near-total collapse of the national healthcare system, and the economic blockade. The new strikes added a further layer of operational complexity to an already impossible humanitarian environment.
The ICRC continued to document attacks on medical infrastructure throughout the period. The overlapping nature of the crises, the 2015 coalition war, the Houthi control of the northwest, the blockade, and now new US-UK strikes, made Yemen by 2024 one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in recorded history, with no single point of accountability and multiple armed parties each contributing to the documented harm.
Source: MSF Yemen operations documentation · ICRC Yemen health infrastructure reports · UN OCHA Yemen 2024
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The question. Not a claim.07 / 07
Over 100 documented attacks. US and UK airstrikes on a country recording 227,000 indirect deaths from nine years of war. What does it mean when a country is struck again before the first war has been accounted for?
Tomorrow: Part 4 of 4. The final episode. The arms sales that continued while the famine was documented. The Security Council resolution that was vetoed. The ICC that has not been referred. The UN accountability mechanism that was terminated under pressure. The question the Yemen Files was always building toward: when the documented cost is this high and the institutional response this limited, what does that gap tell us about how the system decides which crises count?
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