Lawfare Archive: Greg Johnsen and Scott Anderson on the Fight Against the Houthis

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🗓️ 3 May 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

From January 16, 2024: Over the last two months, Houthi militants have waged more than 27 attacks against merchant shipping and U.S. and partner forces in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, purportedly in response to the war in Gaza. These attacks have significantly disrupted global shipping and surged the Middle East into an even more precarious security situation. Following a large-scale Houthi attack on U.S. and British ships, the U.S. and U.K. on Jan. 11 launched over 150 munitions targeting almost 30 Houthi sites in Yemen. The U.S. on Jan. 12 carried out another strike on a Houthi radar facility. The Houthis have since retaliated with multiple strikes targeting U.S. forces. Yesterday, the Houthis for the first time successfully struck a cargo ship owned and operated by the United States.

Lawfare Research Fellow Matt Gluck sat down with Gregory Johnsen, the Associate Director of the Institute for Future Conflict at the U.S. Air Force Academy and Lawfare Senior Editor Scott R. Anderson to discuss the spate of Houthi attacks, the U.S. response and the associated domestic and international law questions, and where the fighting is likely to go from here. What can history tell us about the possible paths forward? Why did the U.S. act when it did? What’s in it for the Houthis? They chewed over these questions and more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast contains advertising.
0:04.4	To access an ad-free version of the Lawfare podcast, become a material supporter of Lawfare at
0:11.5	patreon.com slash lawfare. That's patreon.com slash lawfare.
0:18.2	Also, check out Lawfare's other podcast offerings, Rational Security, Chatter,
0:25.2	Lawfare No Bull, and The Aftermath.
0:46.3	I'm Caroline Quirna, intern at Lawfare with an episode from the Lawfare Archive for May 3rd, 2025. Earlier this week, the United Kingdom in the United States carried out a joint strike against the Houthis in Yemen,
0:52.3	the first such operation since President
0:54.8	Donald Trump took office. Since October 23, the U.S. has conducted over 800 air strikes against
1:01.3	the group, while the Houthis have successfully shot down U.S. surveillance drones and damaged other
1:06.7	equipment, including a $60 million U.S. Navy fighter jet that fell overboard while an aircraft
1:12.8	carrier was evading fire. For today's archive episode, I selected an episode from January 16th,
1:19.3	2024, in which Matt Gluck, Gregory Johnson, and Scott R. Anderson discussed the Houthi
1:25.5	attacks in the Red Sea, the U.S. response, the associated
1:29.4	domestic and international law questions, where the fighting might lead, and more.
1:43.0	I'm Matt Gluck, Research Fellow at Lawfare, and this is the Lawfare podcast, January 16th, 2024.
1:50.3	Over the last two months, Houthi militants have waged more than 27 attacks against merchant shipping and U.S. and partner forces in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bob Al-Mandab straight, purportedly
2:02.4	in response to the war in Gaza. These attacks have significantly disrupted global shipping
2:07.2	and surged the Middle East into an even more precarious security situation. Following a large-scale
2:13.2	Houthi attack on U.S. and British ships, the U.S. and U.K. on January 11th, launched over 150
2:19.4	munitions targeting almost 30 Houthi sites in Yemen. The U.S. on January 12th, carried
2:25.3	out another strike on a Houthi radar facility. The Houthis have since retaliated with
2:30.1	multiple strikes targeting U.S. forces. Yesterday, the Houthis for the first time
	...

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