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<h1>‘Dangerous’: US attacks on Yemen’s Houthis belie push for de-escalation</h1><p class="gmail-article__subhead gmail-css-1wt8oh6"><em>US acting as ‘arsonist and firefighter’, experts say, by urging Middle East de-escalation but backing Israel’s Gaza war.</em></p><div class="gmail-responsive-image"><img src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-01-12T012615Z_1116992409_RC2ZF5AMF7TY_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-YEMEN-STRIKE-1705041650.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="An RAF Typhoon aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition from RAF Akrotiri to conduct air strikes against military targets in Yemen." width="391" height="260" style="margin-right: 25px;"></div>An
RAF Typhoon aircraft takes off to conduct air attacks against Houthi
targets in Yemen, in this photograph released by the UK Ministry of
Defence on January 12 [UK MOD/Handout via Reuters]<div class="gmail-article-info-block gmail-css-ti04u9"><div class="gmail-article-b-l" style="border-color:rgb(250,144,0)"><div class="gmail-article-author-name"><span class="gmail-article-by">By </span><span class="gmail-article-author-name-item"><a class="gmail-author-link" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/author/jillian_kestler_d_amours_201382813036352214">Jillian Kestler-D'Amours</a></span></div><div class="gmail-article-dates" style="border-color:rgb(250,144,0)"><div class="gmail-date-simple gmail-css-1yjq2zp"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Published On 12 Jan 2024</span><span aria-hidden="true"> - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/12/dangerous-us-attacks-on-yemens-houthis-belie-push-for-de-escalation">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/12/dangerous-us-attacks-on-yemens-houthis-belie-push-for-de-escalation</a></font></div></div></div><div class="gmail-social-share-buttons"><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"><span class="gmail-update-reading-list__tooltip" role="tooltip"></span></div><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2Fiigfjv"></a><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%E2%80%98Dangerous%E2%80%99%3A%20US%20attacks%20on%20Yemen%E2%80%99s%20Houthis%20belie%20push%20for%20de-escalation&source=sharethiscom&related=sharethis&via=AJEnglish&url=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2Fiigfjv"></a><div class="gmail-article-info-block gmail-css-ti04u9"><div class="gmail-social-share-buttons"></div></div><div class="gmail-wysiwyg gmail-wysiwyg--all-content gmail-css-ibbk12"><p>For
months, top United States officials have repeatedly said that President
Joe Biden does not want to see Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip escalate
into a wider conflict in the Middle East.</p>
<p>That was the central message US Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed this week as he made his <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/11/still-no-endgame-as-blinken-concludes-latest-middle-east-tour-analysts">fourth visit to the region</a> since the war began. His trip came in the shadow of Israeli attacks in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/6/hezbollah-fires-rockets-at-israel-in-response-to-hamas-leaders-killing">Lebanon</a> and attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on vessels in the Red Sea.</p>
<p>“The Red Sea — we want to avoid escalation there,” Blinken said in
Cairo on Thursday, when asked about his efforts to prevent the conflict
from spiralling.</p>
<p>But only hours later, the US <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/12/us-and-uk-launch-strikes-against-houthi-rebels-in-yemen">confirmed</a>
it had collaborated with the United Kingdom to launch “strikes against a
number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels”, in coordination with
a handful of other countries.</p>
<p>Experts and rights advocates warn that the attacks clash with the
Biden administration’s stated goals of de-escalation and fail to address
the root cause of the soaring tensions in the region: Israel’s military
assault on Gaza.</p>
<p>“It does run contrary to what the administration has been saying, but
it was also inevitable,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director
for Middle East policy at Friends Committee on National Legislation, a
Quaker advocacy group in Washington, DC.</p>
<p> </p>
<div style="display:block;min-width:0px;max-width:770px">
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<p></p></div>
<p> </p>
<p>“Everybody watching this situation knew that it was a matter of time
before the war in Gaza spilled out across the region. And we’re seeing
that not only in the Red Sea, but we’re also seeing it in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/6/hezbollah-fires-rockets-at-israel-in-response-to-hamas-leaders-killing">Lebanon</a>, Syria and Iraq,” he told Al Jazeera.</p><p>“Without that ceasefire in Gaza, it’s hard to see how this gets
better. And I think the simmering pot is now boiling over, and it’s just
going to get worse and worse as time goes on. It’s really a very
dangerous moment.”</p>
<h2 id="gmail-red-sea-attacks">Red Sea attacks</h2>
<p>On Friday, a senior US official told the Reuters news agency that
more than 150 munitions had been used to hit nearly 30 locations linked
to the Houthi armed group in Yemen.</p>
<p>The Iran-aligned <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/12/who-are-yemens-houthis-a-basic-guide">Houthis</a>
control large swaths of Yemen including the western coast overlooking
the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which leads to the Red Sea. The group began
firing missiles at Israel and attacking commercial ships shortly after
the war on Gaza began in October.</p>
<p>The group <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/19/yemens-houthis-will-not-stop-red-sea-attacks-until-israel-stops-gaza-war">has said</a>
it is targeting Israel-linked vessels as part of an effort to pressure
the Israeli government to end its Gaza bombardment and allow more
humanitarian aid deliveries into the coastal Palestinian enclave.</p>
<p>The attacks in the Red Sea — a key commercial thoroughfare through
which about 12 percent of global trade transits — led shipping companies
to suspend operations in the area and drew condemnation from the US and
its allies.</p>
<p>In mid-December, Washington <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/19/us-announces-10-nation-force-to-counter-houthi-attacks-in-red-sea">launched</a> a multinational force aimed at defending “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea, and at the end of the month, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/1/us-sinks-houthi-boats-in-the-red-sea-how-did-the-fight-unfold">US forces sank three Houthi boats</a>, killing 10 fighters.</p>
<p><img class="gmail-aligncenter gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-2614864" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/INTERACTIVE-attacks-red-sea-1705073519.png?w=770&resize=770%2C769&quality=80" alt="INTERACTIVE - attacks-red-sea" width="391" height="390" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p>
<p>During a news conference from Egypt’s capital on Thursday, Blinken
condemned the Houthis and noted that the United Nations Security Council
<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/11/un-security-council-demands-houthis-stop-red-sea-shipping-attacks">passed a resolution</a> a day earlier urging the group to end its attacks.</p>
<p>“We have a number of countries that have made clear that, if it
doesn’t stop, there’ll have to be consequences, and unfortunately, it
hasn’t stopped. But we want to make sure that it does, and we’re
prepared to do that,” the top US diplomat said.</p>
<p>Brian Finucane, a senior US programme adviser at the International
Crisis Group think tank, said it was widely expected that the US would
launch attacks against the Houthis in Yemen amid the escalating Red Sea
confrontations.</p>
<p>But Finucane — who previously worked at the US State Department,
advising on the use of military force — told Al Jazeera that the Yemen
strikes show that the Biden administration “has adopted a posture of
self-deception and a self-defeating policy”.</p>
<p>“On the one hand, they repeat in this mantra-like fashion their
desire to avoid a wider regional war. On the other hand, we already have
that wider regional war and the underlying cause … is the conflict in
Gaza, which the US is fuelling through unconditional military support
[for Israel],” he said.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-arsonist-and-firefighter">‘Arsonist and firefighter’</h2>
<p>Biden, who confirmed the strikes on Thursday, said his administration
was sending “a clear message that the United States and our partners
will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to
imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical
commercial routes”.</p>
<p>“I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people
and the free flow of international commerce as necessary,” the US
president said in a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/11/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-coalition-strikes-in-houthi-controlled-areas-in-yemen/" target="_blank">statement</a>, which did not mention the Israeli war in Gaza.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/01/04/background-press-call-on-recent-attacks-by-the-houthis/" target="_blank">Earlier this month</a>,
a senior administration official also rejected the Houthis’ claim that
their attacks in the Red Sea are tied to Gaza, calling that
rationale “illegitimate”.</p>
<p>The war in Gaza has killed more than 23,700 Palestinians since
October 7, prompting widespread international outcry and raising
questions about the risk of genocide.</p>
<p> </p>
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<p></p></div>
<p> </p>
<p>According to Finucane, the US’s failure to “acknowledge reality” —
that the Gaza war lies at the heart of current regional tensions — “will
make it very difficult to craft effective policy”.</p>
<p>And while <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3643830/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-coalition-strikes-in-ho/">the US said</a>
its overnight Yemen strikes were “intended to disrupt and degrade the
Houthis’ capabilities”, Finucane questioned whether they would really
stem the Red Sea attacks.</p>
<p>The Houthis in Yemen have already <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/12/how-the-us-uk-bombing-of-yemen-might-help-the-houthis">withstood years of bombings</a>
in a war led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The group is
currently in talks with Riyadh over a lasting ceasefire.</p>
<p>“I think it’s really important to recognise that the US is
simultaneously playing the role of arsonist and firefighter in the
Middle East,” Finucane said.</p>
<p>“It is pouring fuel on the fire in Gaza, while at the same time
trying to tamp down the flare-ups elsewhere in the region — flare-ups
that endanger US service members.”</p>
<h2 id="gmail-gaza-ceasefire-key">Gaza ceasefire key</h2>
<p>Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni American assistant professor at Michigan
State University, said she was disheartened but not surprised to see the
Biden administration launch attacks on Yemen.</p>
<p>“It’s not surprising because we’ve seen evidence over and over again
[that] US policy in the Middle East, and Yemen more specifically, has
been one that is reactive, one that leads with violence,” she told Al
Jazeera. “Air strikes seem to be the go-to for whichever administration
has been in power [over] the past couple of decades.”</p>
<p>She added that, if the Biden administration really wanted to
de-escalate regional tensions, it would be pushing for a ceasefire in
Gaza. “Their words don’t align with their actions.”</p>
<p>The Biden administration has provided Israel with military and
diplomatic support since the Gaza war began, without drawing “red lines”
for how those resources can be used. It has also blocked UN resolutions
urging a ceasefire and rejected a case at the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/11/day-one-of-the-icj-genocide-hearing-against-israel-key-takeaways">International Court of Justice</a> accusing Israel of genocide.</p>
<p>Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for
Responsible Statecraft, a think tank in Washington, DC, also told Al
Jazeera in a television interview on Thursday that the Yemen attacks
highlight a failure on the part of the US and UK to push Israel to end
its war in Gaza.</p>
<p> </p>
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<p></p></div>
<p> </p>
<p>“The question that has to be asked is, ‘Why is it that the British
and American governments prefer to escalate and go to war essentially in
order to prevent the Houthis from attacking ships, rather than actually
[taking] the path of a ceasefire in Gaza?'” he said.</p>
<p>A ceasefire, Parsi explained, would end the killings of Palestinians,
help secure the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza, and stem <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/26/us-strikes-iraq-after-blaming-iran-backed-groups-for-drone-attack">attacks on US and allied forces</a> in Iraq and Syria, which have also escalated since early October.</p>
<p>“The strategy of the Biden administration has been to try to achieve
de-escalation by escalating,” he said. “And it doesn’t seem to work in
the long run, clearly, because the Houthis are likely not going to back
off.”</p>
<p>That was echoed by El-Tayyab, who told Al Jazeera that “more war has not, and has never been, the answer”.</p>
<p>“They should try to end the war in Gaza for its own sake because
there’s a massive humanitarian crisis,” he said, noting the mass
displacement of Palestinians and warnings of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/21/entire-gaza-population-facing-hunger-crisis-famine-risk-un-backed-report">famine</a> in Gaza.</p>
<p>“But a ceasefire in Gaza would also have a knock-on effect of really
ratcheting down escalation and violence in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, in
Lebanon, [to] secure all peoples in the region — Arabs and Israelis —
and secure American interests abroad.”</p>
<p>El-Tayyab added, “Really, the only way out of this mess is diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy.”</p>
</div>