Introduction – Jan 12, 2024

Were London and Washington ordered to launch their air strikes on Yemen? One really has to wonder because if they had wanted to open the Red Sea to shipping they need only have asked Israel to halt its genocidal campaign in Gaza.

Instead, they opted to take Israel’s side.

After all, the Houthis were only targeting shipping to and from Israel’s sole Red Sea port of Eilat. Everything else was being allowed through. So Britain and America have effectively gone to war on Israel’s behalf.

At least that’s how many will see it and in doing so the Anglo-Americans have sown the seeds for future potential conflicts.

The only people who benefit from this are hard-line Zionists and Jewish supremacists. No one else will gain anything, least of all ordinary Britons and Americans who may end up fighting in further conflicts as a result.

Indeed, this could ultimately lead to potential conflict with the Houthi’s prime backer, Iran, which is exactly what Israel wants. Ed.

‘The Houthis are happy – they are using this as a propaganda victory’ – reaction in Yemen to UK and US strikes

Guardian – Jan 12, 2024

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

My colleague Ghaith Abdul-Ahad has spoken to Radhiya al Mutawakil, chair of Mwatana for Human Rights, in Sana’a and also to Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme to get their reaction on the US–UK strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. You can read the full comments from each below:

Radhiya al Mutawakil, chair of Mwatana for Human Rights, in Sana’a:

When we heard the airstrikes’ explosions yesterday, it brought back memories of the Saudi airstrikes of the past eight years and the memories of that ugly war.

We were shocked, not knowing the extent of this new round of violence. Is it just a show of force? Or is it a new round of fighting? As the day passed and we saw that the strikes were almost identical to those of Saudis, the Yemenis in the streets dismissed them, joking: “Ah, they are the same strikes, but this time in English.”

Before the war on Gaza, we have been in a state of no-war-and-no-peace. While all the signs of the war, the violations, and the economic and humanitarian impacts are still here, we were seeing that peace was finally coming to Yemen and that the Saudis and the Houthis were close to signing a peace deal with specific steps to be implemented on the ground: opening humanitarian corridors to besieged cities, paying the salaries of government employees … etc.

This morning, the first thing that came to our minds was how these attacks would affect that peace. It’s unfair to enter a second war.

The Houthis, as we can hear and see in the streets today, are happy with these strikes; they are using them as a propaganda victory. They say: “We are finally facing the real enemies: the US and Britain, who were all along behind the war in Yemen, hidden behind the facade of Saudi Arabia and UAE.”

The irony is that eight years of war, with the pretext of weakening the Houthis, had, in fact, made them stronger. When the war started, the Houthis didn’t own rockets to hit their targets in Yemen. Now they have missiles that can strike targets in the sea and far into the region, so what do they expect from a new war, just another round of violence with a more catastrophic impact on the Yemeni civilians?

The Houthis are the de facto authority that rules Sana’a. They have committed their share of violations, and the people [living in areas under their control] do not have much love for them. Still, as much as the Yemenis are exhausted from their own war, it is hard for them not to sympathise with the Palestinians. So for the Yemenis, even those who are opposed to the Houthis, it is hard for them not to sympathise with the Houthis attempt to support the Palestinians by attacking Israeli shipping in the Red Sea. At the same time, the Houthis are using these strikes to expand their popularity.

I keep asking myself this question: how does the western mind work? Rather than stop the atrocities in Gaza, they want to expand the war in the region by attacking the Houthis, which is not going to work because it didn’t work before.

Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme:

The attacks will definitely have an impact on the local Yemeni scene.

First, the negotiations between the Saudis and the Houthis, which were about to lead to a deflation of peace in Yemen, will be delayed. The Houthis might feel that they do not need to rush things.

Another danger is that the Saudis have been the first line of defence for the Israelis by shooting down Houthi missiles. If the Houthis fire more missiles, things will escalate militarily between the Saudis and the Houthis. I know that there have been military clashes on the border in the past three days.

And for sure, the Houthis will now militarily mobilise more Yemenis to fight; they have already mobilised thousands of people in the past few weeks, and now they will recruit more and they will use these new forces to fight their opponents internally. These airstrikes are like a nugget of gold for the Houthis.

Finally, they are in a direct confrontation with the US. Whatever the price for that, it is worth it for them. I do believe they will attack more ships in Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea and oil infrastructure in the Gulf and US bases there.

In Yemen, whenever a problem is out of control, we say khalas – it’s done – the donkey has entered the market and is running havoc, and we can say the same thing after these strikes: the donkey has entered the market.

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