The Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen has launched a series of new attacks on ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, prompting a response from a United States (U.S.) warship deployed on one of the world’s busiest sea routes.
The powerful group, which controls Yemen’s capital Sana’a, and commands an expanding army, has vowed to launch new attacks if Israel and the U.S. refuse to end the Gaza war, which has killed more than 15,500 Palestinians since October 7th.
Washington stated that there are reasons to assume that these attacks, although they were launched by the Houthis in Yemen, “were entirely facilitated by Iran.”
Tehran has not officially commented on the latest attack but has previously claimed that while it supports the “axis of resistance” made up of groups in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, the members act autonomously. The Iran-backed Hezbollah group is engaged in deadly border fighting with Israeli forces in solidarity with the Palestinians. Dozens of Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli shelling, including journalists, raising fears of a regional escalation.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accepted responsibility for the two attacks but did not mention claims that a U.S.warship had engaged their drones.
“The Yemeni armed forces renew the warning to all Israeli ships or those linked to the Israelis that they will become a legitimate target if Israel does not stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip,” he pointed out.
Why is Bab al-Mandab important?
Bab al-Mandab is a 25 km long strait that connects the Gulf of Aden located south of Yemen with the Red Sea, which extends to southern Israel and is an important shipping route.
The Houthis are actually targeting one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, where goods and oil are transported in large quantities.
As it was reported, by focusing on Bab al-Mandab and launching earlier attacks in the Red Sea and southern Israel, the Houthis appear to be trying to impose heavy financial costs on Israel while undermining its security if it decides to prolong the war.
Why don’t they attack Israel directly?
The Iran-backed Houthis publicly announced their involvement in the war in late October by launching a significant number of missiles and drones towards southern Israel.
Most of them are believed to have been intercepted, either by Israeli defense systems or US warships, or to have missed their targets. Thus, they failed to inflict significant damage on Eilat or other parts of Israel.
This is mainly due to the fact that the missiles were fired from a distance of about 2,000 km. Despite significantly upgrading their missiles in recent years, the Houthis appear to have decided that focusing on direct fire at Israel would offer limited gains.
They seem to have adopted a strategic change since last month, instead focusing on ships much closer to their shores that remain vulnerable and can be targeted directly at a much more acceptable range.
They are still holding a ship they seized last month and launched several other naval attacks before Sunday’s attack, which marked their biggest naval attacks to date. They also claimed to have shot down an American drone last month.
Will Israel and the U.S. attack Yemen?
So far, Israel and the U.S. have decided not to directly attack Yemeni soil, and it will probably remain like that, N1 reports.
As the Houthis targeted multiple ships simultaneously for the first time on Sunday, the US military said it would “consider all appropriate responses”, without elaborating.
“These attacks pose a direct threat to international trade and maritime security. They threatened the lives of international teams representing several countries around the world,” the statement said.
So far, Israel and the US have decided not to directly attack Yemeni soil, and they will probably stay that way, writes Al Jazeera.
Yemen has just emerged from a war that lasted more than seven years and failed to remove the Houthis, who fought a Saudi-led coalition backed by Washington before President Joe Biden pulled the U.S. and revoked the group’s “terrorist” designation. .
With Israel also battling Hezbollah on its border and Iranian-backed forces still exchanging fire with the US in Syria and Iraq, Israel and its Western allies appear reluctant to expand the scope of the war further.
E.Dz
