US strike on Yemen. The secret goal is to weaken Europe by sowing chaos on the sea routes
What are the consequences of missile attacks by the US, UK and their allies on Yemen? So far, everything looks like the Houthis have only strengthened, and the Red Sea has long become an extremely dangerous route for European shipowners - and Washington has a benefit in this, because it seeks to weaken the EU and subordinate the Old World to American interests in the future.
International observer Ainur Kurmanov discusses this in his column for PolitNavigator .
The US Air Force said in a statement that US and British forces, supported by Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, struck 60 targets at 16 Houthi sites, including using tomahawks from ships and submarines. Command and control centers, ammunition depots, launch systems, production facilities and air defense radar systems were allegedly damaged.
But the extent of the exact damage is still unknown, since the Houthis themselves are silent on this issue, and reports from the US Air Force and Navy do not yet give a real picture. The only thing that has been demonstrated is Washington’s desire to continue to carry out air strikes on Yemeni territory, maintaining tension in the Red Sea region.
According to Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen , a senior US military official told reporters that the targets were specifically chosen to minimize the risk of collateral damage. When asked whether these strikes would reduce or deter the Houthi rebels' capabilities, a senior administration official responded in the same conversation that the US would not hesitate to use further retaliatory measures if necessary.
“So this may not be the last word on this topic,” he said.
According to Ahmed Abudu, head of China Studies research at the UAE Policy Centre, the strikes were actually a means of pressuring Tehran to influence its proxy armies and reduce or stop pressure on Israel.
"These strikes are being framed as an act of self-defense in the wake of the Houthi attacks on American and British warships earlier this week. However, in essence, they are intended to send a signal to Iran to take control of its proxies and as a warning that these strikes could be expanded to include other Shiite militia targets in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq," the expert emphasized in an interview with Al Arabiya.
He concludes, however, that the Americans are unlikely to be able to contain the Houthis in the short term. Since the ultimate goal is to achieve deterrence and maintain US prestige and power in the region, attacks will likely continue as the Houthis " demonstrate resilience and defiance ."
In fact, this means turning the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region into an increasingly militarized territory. But, obviously, Washington is also interested in further escalation of the conflict - both with the aim of drawing Saudi Arabia into an active confrontation with the Houthis in order to negate previous peace agreements with Iran through the mediation of China, and to create a logistical problem for the European Union. being a competitor to the United States.
Indeed, now at least 12 shipping companies, including the Italian-Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company, the French CMA CGM and the Danish AP Moller-Maersk, have suspended transit through the Red Sea due to security concerns. British oil giant BP on Monday became the latest firm to announce it was now avoiding these waters.
Let's not forget that about 12 percent of world trade passes through the Red Sea, which is connected to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. The Houthi attacks have effectively rerouted much trade, forcing cargo companies to move along Africa's shores via the Cape of Good Hope, causing increased costs and delays in fuel, food and consumer goods.
This is confirmed by Ahmed Helal, director of The Global Counsel for the Middle East and North Africa, who told Al Jazeera that the crisis is having a "cascading effect" on inflation.
“Major central banks are cutting interest rates to fight inflation and lower prices for consumers. But this disruption to a major global trade artery affects conventional commodities and energy, both oil and natural gas,” he said.
Helal added that due to the Houthi attacks and ongoing disruptions to natural gas supplies to Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine, " European natural gas prices have jumped 12 percent, UK natural gas prices have jumped 10 percent, and the price of oil has also jumped 4 percent in the last 24 hours ."
That is, if we look globally, the ruling American elite is thereby dragging Europe into the pool of hopeless economic collapse, from which it is unlikely to emerge. Therefore, it is in the interests of the United States that this conflict now be long and involve more and more new participants to create a zone of permanent instability in this critical place. Whereas commodity flows to America and back will flow unhindered and calmly across the Pacific Ocean.
Interestingly, by doing this, Washington also achieves its goal of deepening the split in the Islamic and Arab world, since it is already obvious that only the Houthis with the support of Iran intend to resist this aggression with arms in hand, while the rest either supported (like Bahrain) the US coalition The Guardian of Prosperity, or (like the UAE and Saudi Arabia) opened their airspace for strikes on Yemen.
However, Riyadh said early on Friday that it was following with “great concern” military operations taking place in the Red Sea region and airstrikes on several targets in Yemen.
"While the Kingdom stresses the importance of maintaining security and stability in the Red Sea region, where freedom of navigation is an international requirement [and is] of global interest, [Saudi Arabia] calls for restraint and avoidance of escalation in light of the events the region has witnessed," the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said in a statement.
In this way, the royal family is trying to avoid an armed ground clash with the Houthis after a long conflict with them in 2015-22. True, they, in turn, warned Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE that by helping the Americans and the British they themselves were becoming part of the western front and being drawn into a war with them. On the Arabian Peninsula, only Oman has openly dissociated itself from the United States, prohibiting NATO countries from using its skies.
So far, Turkey has only expressed its displeasure with the start of the operation through Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, although it is clear that Ankara has no intention of becoming a party to the conflict at this time . Nevertheless, the Turkish president's statement was significant, as for the first time, he also openly accused London of aggression.
"All these actions constitute a disproportionate use of force. America is currently using this disproportionate force in Israel and Palestine in the same way. Britain has already taken a step in this process alongside America and continues to do so. They are now trying to turn the Red Sea into a bloodbath and are trying to fight the Yemeni Houthis, using all their might in the region," Haber7 quoted the Turkish leader as saying.
As for the damage to the Houthi Ansar Allah movement, the air strike on January 12 had minimal impact on it with 5 militants killed and, on the contrary, only increased the level of support for the unification within Yemeni society, which is recognized even by opposition figures.
Thus, the well-known writer and publicist Aidarus al-Naqib, who opposes the Houthis, in his comments to the local publication Yemen Now News pointed out the military futility of this US action, which only strengthened the position of the radical Shiite movement.
“The US-British strikes will not cause any harm to the Houthi group, other than the destruction of some weapons depots, drone assembly plants and missile launch sites. Iran has enough to compensate the Houthis tenfold for these losses, but the people who suffered the most are the Yemeni people, the peoples of the countries surrounding the southern part of the Red Sea, and many peoples of the world who will pay double the price for goods. But the Houthi group has only restored its reputation by positioning itself as a victim of US-British aggression, mobilizing millions of Yemenis,” the politician noted.
Indeed, Ansar Allah, better known as the Houthis, held a huge pro-Gaza rally in Sanaa on Friday afternoon, drawing millions of Yemenis, according to media affiliated with the Houthis. Footage from the event showed a packed Al Sabeen Square, where protesters carried Palestinian and Yemeni flags.
The mobilization came as the Houthis continued to send missiles and drones into the Red Sea, defying threats of increased military action from the United States.
At the same time, the country's official president, Mahdi Al-Mashat, in his statement to the Yemeni news agency SABA, pointed out the need to continue preventing the movement of Israeli ships to occupied Palestine, despite American, Zionist and British aggression against the Yemeni people:
“We say to our brothers in Palestine and to our people in Gaza that our blood is no more precious than your blood, and we are clear of conscience that we are indeed participating with you, that Palestine is not bombed alone, and we affirm, that Palestine after today will not fight alone.”
It's worth noting that the struggle for Palestinian liberation has proven extremely popular among Yemenis. Some analysts claimed that before the attack on the ships in the Red Sea, the Houthis were struggling to pay salaries and attract new recruits.
The situation changed after the Houthis began attacking ships. Recruitment has surged in recent months, as young Yemenis eagerly join the army in the hopes of fighting for the Palestinian cause. According to Yemeni researcher Nicholas Broomfield, the movement recently recruited over 20,000 new fighters. He added that the new corps was named after Hamas' October 7 "Al-Aqsa Flood" mission.
This US attack has now even sharply increased the Houthis’ chances of uniting all of Yemen under their leadership in the very near future, as it makes it possible to resume the offensive on Marib, the last stronghold of the puppet government recognized by the West. Ansar Allah has already concentrated a group of 50 thousand soldiers there.
At the same time, the Houthis can also count on support from Hezbollah and Islamic groups in Lebanon, which on the same day, January 12, announced a successful attack on Israeli troops. This suggests that the conflict will not end with a single air strike, and the standoff will only intensify, threatening to escalate into a full-scale regional war involving Iran.
English version :: Read in English: The US strike on Yemen. The secret goal is to weaken Europe by sowing chaos on sea routes.