Despite US officials have been saying since October 7 that Washington opposes violence and bloodshed, it is now planning to start a war against Yemen’s Ansarullah in support for Israel.
A newly-released report by Bloomberg revealed this Saturday that the United States is in talk with its Persian Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to start a war against Yemen’s Ansarullah. The reason for such a plan, as the report noted, “is in response to the resistance movement’s attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea.”
“According to several people with knowledge of the discussions, talks are at a preliminary stage and both the US and its regional partners still favor diplomacy over direct confrontation. But the discussions underscore how seriously the US takes the threat,” the report said.
Since Israel began its deadly airstrikes against Palestinians in Gaza, Ansarullah has sought to target Israeli-linked commercial ships in support of the Palestinian resistance. The move is significant because Israel’s economy is very much dependent on receiving goods by ship, including through the Red Sea off Yemen’s coast. So far, Israel has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, including nearly 9 thousand children. This is while Hamas’ attack on Israeli military bases and settlements on 7 October left 1,200 Israelis killed.
Ansarullah seized an Israeli-linked cargo vessel last month when its commandos landed aboard the ship from a helicopter. Last week, the group also launched an hours-long barrage of missiles and drones against three commercial ships. Some US officials claim the attack also targeted the USS Carney destroyer warship, which was dispatched to the Red Sea in mid-October in support for Israel.
US officials deny the report
Denying Bloomberg’s report, US Deputy of National Security Adviser Jon Finer said this Sunday that the Biden administration has not yet ruled out the possibility of taking military action against Ansarullah.
Likewise, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan claimed that the plan is not to attack, but to protect Israeli ships crossing through the Red Sea. “We are in talks to assemble a naval task force with as much buy-in from as many countries as possible that could escort ships in the Red Sea,” Sullivan said Sunday.
Last but not least, the US Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking also rejected the accuracy of the report and in emailed comments to Bloomberg, said that he was back in West Asia “to continue intensive US diplomacy and regional coordination to safeguard maritime security in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”
Washington’s hypocrisy clearer than ever
Despite what the US is doing which can very well extend the flames of the Israel-Hamas war in the region, American officials are still insisting that they oppose war. “I have personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, and to shun irresponsible rhetoric, and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank,” Austin said in a speech to the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday.
A state department official also repeated the same words the same day and noted that Washington “has asked the Israeli government to comply with international humanitarian law and take every feasible step to avoid harm to civilians.”
But despite the anti-war rhetoric, US is still vigorously supplying Israel with more and more weapons. This Saturday, for example, the White House used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review.
“The Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration was used to authorize the sale of tank rounds worth $106.5m for immediate delivery to Israel,” the Pentagon said in a statement Saturday. Not to mention that a day earlier on Friday, the US also vetoed a UN Security Council vote to implement a cease fire in Gaza.
