The Houthi movement in Yemen vehemently denounced recent US military attacks on their capital city of Sanaa in a tense escalation of regional war, promising to maintain their defensive stance in the face of growing international pressure. The Houthi leadership’s spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, described the US strikes as an outright violation of Yemen’s sovereignty.
The strikes, which thundered through Sanaa’s neighborhoods on Monday and Tuesday, targeted what US military officials described as command facilities and weapons storage sites. Local residents reported hearing the distinctive roar of fighter jets over their homes as twelve separate air raids struck two districts within the capital, according to reports from the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah television network.
“These attacks represent nothing less than blatant aggression against our nation,” Abdulsalam declared, speaking with weighty intent for those who framed their movement’s actions in broader regional terms. He said the US attacks were akin to the Gaza War, and that American military action was an emboldening factor for Israel’s action.
The US Central Command gave a detailed accounting of the action, saying its forces had targeted facilities housing a range of advanced conventional weapons, including missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles. It was a sharp increase in American military action in this corner of the Middle East, which is caught in a crosshatch of disputes.
These attacks were an escalation of violence for the people of Sanaa. Just days earlier, three people were killed when Israeli missiles hit Sanaa’s main airport, with three more killed as simultaneous attacks hit the key port city of Hodeidah. The attacks have heightened fears among humanitarian agencies of the consequences for Yemen’s civilian infrastructure and precarious humanitarian situation.
The Iran-aligned Houthi movement has framed the actions of its forces in the Red Sea as support for Palestinians. The continuing campaign of attacking commercial vessels has caused massive disruptions to international shipping in the critical maritime passageway, with growing fears about consequences for world trade.
New Problems
In particular, maritime security specialists have observed that the Houthi’s naval capacities pose wholly new problems for the owners and managers of seaborne commerce, have prompted a large number of those owners and managers to recalibrate their business strategies, and have raised costs for commerce and industry around the world. It has now turned a regional conflict into an international maritime security crisis because of the capacity of the movement to project power into the Red Sea.
HELVETICA 20/05/01 Local analysts indicate that the recent round of US attacks may signify a shift in the universal approach to Houthi Sea operations. However, the movement has proven to be very tenacious and from their declarations they really intend not to let go of the course of action they are currently taking means that the crisis is far from being solved.
Mixed fighting continues to raise concern from different sides of development organizations who fear the consequences on Yemen civilians given years of enduring both military and economic troubles. This is so because the conflict involving political governance structures in the region, maritime stability, and humanitarian issues in finding reasonable political solution to the current conflict is complicated for all the stake holders.
