USA This Saturday he launched his second attack about Yemen to try to decimate the military capabilities of the Houthi rebelsthe pro-Iranian militia that since mid-November has been disrupting commercial ship traffic at the gates of the Red Sea with attacks and kidnappings described by its leaders as a pressure campaign to try to force an end to the war in Gaza. This time the bombardment was much more limited and was carried out with a radar installation on the outskirts of Sana’a without any casualties, according to local authorities. The Houthis insist they will respond in due course, while their internal support grows before the external threat and analysts doubt that the American operations are going to be used to deactivate the risks against commercial navigation through the strait Bab al Mandeb.
As a sign of their growing internal support, tens of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of several capitals of the country on Friday to demonstrate against Anglo-American attacks of the previous morning. More than 150 missiles over thirty locations, which left five dead. “By allying with the palestinian cause (the Houthis) have started to gain a unprecedented popularity“, both in Yemen and beyond its borders,” says the Crisis Group, an analysis center also involved in conflict mediation. “The war in Gaza has in turn given them the opportunity to reduce the growing popular pressure against his way of governing in the areas under its control and arrest your opponents “under the accusation of collusion with the US and Israel,” adds his analysis.
After almost a decade of devastating civil warwith the participation of several foreign actors such as Saudi Arabia and Emirates, the Houthis control less than half of Yemeni territory. But its fiefdoms include the capital and other areas in the north and west of the country, the most populated. Its critics maintain that They rule with an iron fist and more interest in war than in reconstruction.
New recruits for your cause
Not in vain, of all the militias that make up the so-called Resistance Axisa constellation that includes from Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, as well as various armed groups in Iraq, are the Houthis who have taken the most risks in their support for the Palestinians. For now, the move seems to be going well. Since they started launching missiles on the Israeli resort of Eilat, on the shores of the Red Sea, and then attacking civilian merchants at the gates of the Red Sea, their numbers have increased significantly thanks to recruitment campaigns who emphasize their solidarity with the Palestinians, according to the Crisis Group.
And experts doubt that the US and its allies will be able to change your behavior, despite the fact that instability in the area has forced the UN World Food Program to suspend since last December 5 the delivery of humanitarian aid in areas controlled by the Houthis. Quite a drama in a country where 80% of the population survives thanks to this type of aid. “They have very few permanent military installations of a certain entity,” Ibrahim Jalal, an analyst at the Middle East Institute, told ‘The Washington Post.’ “Instead they use mobile platforms to launch rockets and drones, as well as a network of tunnels and caves “that make any attack very difficult.”
“Death to America, death to Israel”
He Pentagon insists that its attacks seek to “disrupt and degrade the military capabilities of the Houthis.” A revivalist movement of Shia Islam, deeply anti-american and anti-Israel, as one of its founding slogans denotes: “God is the greatest, death to America, death to Israel, may the curse fall on the Jews, victory of Islam.” His attacks have caused the ship traffic through the Red Sea was reduced by 40% in December, forcing many companies to avoid the Suez Canal lengthening their routes through the South African cape of Good Hope. A setback that is increasing the costs of commercial transport between Europe and Asia.
In any case, Washington has preferred rescue international trade, along the way raising the risks of a regional war, than stopping the collective punishment in Gaza, where more than 23,000 Palestinians have died and the looming famine threatens to kill many more. The White House insists, despite everything, that it does not want to get involved in a new conflict. “We are not interested in a war with Yemen”the White House spokesman said on Friday, John Kirby. “In fact, all the president has done is try to prevent an escalation of the conflict, including last night’s attacks.”
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It is a way of seeing it. The Foreign Minister of Oman, a country that regularly acts as a bridge between East and West and mediates conflicts in the region, said yesterday that the Anglo-American attack came against its recommendations. “Only will add gasoline to one extremely dangerous situation”, stated Minister Badr Albusaidi.