US IN TALKS WITH ALLIES TO TACKLE HOUTHI SEA ATTACKS
▶ Western powers could launch air strikes on parts of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed rebels
The US and its allies are considering ways to curb attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea, diplomats have told The National.
Options include air strikes on parts of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed group.
As part of their pressure campaign over the war raging in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, allies of Hamas, have attacked several ships on the global shipping route, claiming the vessels were linked to Israel.
“Western security agencies and diplomatic missions are studying together with other intelligence agencies how to respond to this increasing threat in the Red Sea, including possibly conducting targeted air strikes,” said one western official involved in the Yemen file.
Two other western diplomats involved in “shuttle diplomacy” to avoid a spillover of the war in Gaza confirmed the details of the talks between Washington and its allies.
The Houthis overran Yemen’s capital Sanaa and parts of the north in 2014, driving the internationally recognised government south.
In the months before the war in Gaza, there was optimism about the prospects of a peace deal in Yemen, which has been ravaged by one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. But the Houthis’ actions in support of Hamas have jeopardised the process, Yemeni officials said.
The efforts of western powers come after the US last week said it was in talks with other countries to set up a task force to tackle the Houthi attacks on ships.
Tehran warned against any multinational task force entering the region. Iranian Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said: “If they make such an irrational move, they will be faced with extraordinary problems.”
He told the Iranian Student News Agency that “nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance”.
One of the diplomats told The National further escalation in Yemen and the Red Sea will not only delay a possible peace deal
that the UN has been trying for nine years to achieve, but “it will also threaten the current already fragile ceasefire within Yemen” and between the Houthis and a Saudi-led Arab coalition.
The Houthis and the government of Yemen have primarily agreed to the proposed road map for peace.
“The agreement is expected to be announced soon,” a Yemeni official earlier told The National. “It should lead to a ceasefire and comprehensive political negotiations before a lasting peace. The only issue that might cause a delay is the Houthis’ actions in the Red Sea.”
A second Yemeni official warned “some western capitals, which have condemned Houthi attacks against trade ships, have questioned the timing and requested further consultations before announcing it”.
Fighting was curtailed by a UN-brokered ceasefire in April last year, despite the truce expiring six months later.
In September, Houthi representatives engaged in talks hosted by Saudi Arabia, marking the first official visit by a Houthi delegation to the kingdom since 2015.
Despite the risk to the deal, the Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks in the Red Sea and attempts to strike Israel with drones and missiles as long as the war continues in Gaza, where about 18,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since October 7.
“Against the backdrop of our operations in the Red Sea ... we are receiving several communications and messages from active countries confirming ... that they are against the expansion of the conflict,” Houthi spokesman Mohamad Abdelsalam wrote on X.
“Yemen’s position will remain the same, to stand alongside the Palestinian people until the aggression stops and the siege on Gaza is lifted.”
The US has yet to reveal any plans to respond but a State Department official told The National that the Houthis were “threatening almost two years of joint progress”.
Waging war and negotiating peace are serious business, especially when the lives of millions hang in the balance. Yemen is a particularly apposite example, where, according to the UN’s World Food Programme, 21.6 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance and 17 million people do not have enough food on a daily basis.
Many will have welcomed reports this week that Yemen’s main warring parties – the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the country’s internationally recognised government – are considering a preliminary ceasefire that could allow peace talks to take place. The stakes are high for the Yemeni people who have endured much during more than a decade of unforgiving conflict that many hoped had been coming to an end. This makes the latest demand from the Houthis that their seizure of a civilian ship in the Red Sea, attacks on others and repeated firing of missiles towards Israel be treated in isolation from Yemen’s fragile peace process particularly frustrating.
The rebels cannot have it both ways. If one of the Houthis’ ostensible goals is to end western interference in their country and the region, then repeatedly staging attacks that are almost guaranteed to draw a western military response reveals either cynicism or contrary thinking. How the rebels’ partners or those mediating peace talks are meant to look the other way when confronted by such destabilising threats is a difficult question to answer.
The purported solidarity with Gaza that Houthis think they are showing, far from helping a single Palestinian, instead raises the risk of an armed escalation in which no one wins. The rebel’s seizure of the Galaxy Leader and its 25-strong crew at gunpoint last month is a particularly egregious case. The vessel has since become something of a local tourist attraction hosting “cultural activities in solidarity with the Palestinian people”, the rebel-controlled Saba news agency said on Monday.
How capturing a Bahamas-flagged, Japanese-operated cargo ship and its civilian crew made up of seafarers from countries including Bulgaria, the Philippines, Mexico and Ukraine helps Palestinians is a question only the rebels can answer, but few can argue that rationally it does. Contrast this with the humanitarian, diplomatic and political efforts being undertaken by many other Arab states that helps to save lives, builds support for a ceasefire and raises the Palestinian issue at the highest international level. This work is showing results. This week an emergency session of the UN General Assembly voted by a large majority to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, exposing the diplomatic isolation of countries that have yet to lend support.
Instead of targeting civilian shipping, launching missiles and engaging in a dangerous game of chicken with powerful foreign militaries, the Houthis would be better served by re-engaging with the political process, delivering for the people under their rule and bringing calm back to this corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Engaging in piracy helps no one, least of all the rebels themselves.