NEWS ANALYSIS: Why Is The US Bombing Yemen?
"Are they stopping the Houthis? No. Will they continue? Yes."
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This week, the US bombed Yemen for the fifth time, reportedly targeting the Houthi anti-ship ship missiles. For months now, the Houthis have been blockading the Red Sea in opposition to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The US has responded by protecting “freedom of navigation” and international shipping lanes with bombs and missiles. The US has been using $2M missiles to protect ships against the Houthis’ $2,000 drones, but recently escalated into a ten-nation coalition launching air strikes on Yemen.
The Houthi leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, invited the challenge. Yesterday, he said: “We praise god for this great blessing and great honor — for us to be in a direct confrontation with Israel and America.” The Houthis support of Palestine has been immensely popular in Yemen and much of the Arab world.
Despite the strikes, the New York Times reported that Houthis’ firing capabilities were largely unaffected by the bombing. Additionally, the strikes have caused shipping companies to retreat further from the Red Sea, undermining the US’s stated objectives.
Biden seemed to confirm the futility of the attacks in a comment to the UK’s Sky News. When asked if the strikes are working, Biden responded: “Well, when you say ‘working’... are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”
So what’s the plan here?
The US In Yemen
Yemen has always been an important target in the Global War on Terror. Bush administration officials cited the threat of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) as the reason for US operations in the area. Yemen was infamously the country where, under Obama, the US launched its first drone assassination of a US citizen, essentially executing him without due process. His son was killed a month later, and his daughter during a raid authorized under Trump. Both children were US citizens as well.
The history of the 2014-2022 Saudi war on Yemen is far too complex to go into here, but it hits familiar beats of US Western Imperialism. This podcast episode of Congressional Dish is an excellent resource complete with sources and notes. Essentially, a Yemeni president attempted to chart an independent course against the wishes of the US-led International Monetary Fund. This resulted in a coup, and the implementation of IMF reforms. The reforms were predictably devastating and unpopular, and laid the groundwork for a civil war. The majority of the opposition rallied around Houthi rebels, a group named for a Yemeni ruling clan. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backed by the United States, waged a war to support the coup government that endorsed IMF reforms, but only had minority support.
The war has killed 377,000 people between 2015 and 2022. Despite the asymmetry of power and wealth, the Houthis managed to maintain control of the overwhelming majority of the population centers. But the brutal assault combined with the blockade combined to create what many humanitarian and human rights organizations labeled as the worst crisis in the world with much of the population at risk of famine. On its way out of office, the Trump administration exacerbated this crisis by officially designating the Houthis, officially named Ansar Allah, as a terrorist organization. This designation made it more difficult for NGO’s and humanitarian organizations to interact with the population under Houthi control, further depriving the population.
The US-Saudi Divide
When the Biden administration came into office, they quickly reversed this last minute decision. While the Biden administration wrote that the action was “due entirely to the humanitarian consequences” of the designation which “the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” In addition to humanitarian concerns, this also seemed to be part of the “recalibration” of the US-Saudi relationship in which Biden pledged to make the Saudi state a “pariah.”
However, the shift in policy didn’t seem to carry any weight as the administration continued to support the Saudi military despite minor restrictions. This “recalibration” strategy was unofficially declared dead after the notorious MBS-Biden fist bump in Summer of 2022.
The Saudi war on Yemen started to wind down because of factors that had nothing to do with Biden. The Houthis began to get better at attacking Saudi oil installations, increasing the cost of continuing the war. Since 2022, the Saudis have maintained a ceasefire with the Houthis. In 2023, the Chinese brokered a historic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, easing tensions that have defined Middle East battle lines for decades.
The Saudis have had their feet in both camps. One one hand, they continue to support normalization with Israel despite the ongoing genocide. On the other hand, the Arab League, which includes Saudi Arabia, has endorsed South Africa’s invocation of the Genocide Convention against Israel. The Saudis appear to be hedging their bets in favor of their own interests rather than taking any ideologically motivated stance. In any case, there is a wide gap between the Saudis and Americans on Israel policy.
Biden’s reintroduction of the terrorist label seems to indicate that the administration is no longer concerned with the humanitarian costs to the Yemeni people, and the senseless bombing indicates that they are not concerned with preventing a wider
A Wider War?
The US strikes on Yemen come in the context of worries of a wider war in the Middle East. The Biden administration has been worried about Israel trying to provoke a wider war in Lebanon. These worries clearly have merit, as Israeli generals are openly predicting a full scale war in Lebanon in the coming months. Israel has escalated targeted assassinations and airstrikes on Lebanese soil. Obviously, striking Yemen further increases the risks of a wider war, which raises serious questions about the Biden administration's commitment for peace.
What We’re Reading:
Netanyahu tells US he opposes creation of Palestinian state after Gaza war - The Guardian (1/18/24)
Israel’s prime minister has told the Biden White House that he rejects any moves to establish a Palestinian state when Israel ends its offensive against Gaza, and that all territory west of the Jordan River would be under Israeli security control.
Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to obstruct the establishment of a Palestinian state throughout his political career, despite occasional lukewarm endorsements of the idea.
IU Provost addresses controversy over professor suspension, Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s exhibit - Indiana Daily Student (1/17/24)
Faculty say IU violated university policy in Abdulkader Sinno’s suspension - Indiana Daily Student (1/18/24)
UN says Palestinians detained by Israeli forces humiliated, beaten - Al Jazeera (1/19/24)
Rights official says Palestinian men detained by Israeli security forces in unknown locations for between 30 to 55 days.
Israel’s right to tyranny - +972 Magazine (1/17/23)
In justifying the violent unraveling of Gaza as ‘self-defense,’ Western capitals have once again signed off on Israelis’ license to act like despots.
Internet personality Hassan Piker actually interviewed the famous “Yemeni Timothee Chalamet” who went viral for his social media posts while hijacking ships in the Red Sea. The pirate, Rashid Al Haddad insists that people focus on liberating Palestine rather than on his own looks. Yesterday, he was banned from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for apparent code violations. Interview below: