“Death to America, death to Israel!” » Yemenis responded by the hundreds of thousands, Friday, January 12, to the call from the Houthi authorities to demonstrate in the capital, Sanaa, against the strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom which, during the night, had targeted the group in retaliation for his attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea.
Since October 7, the start of a new war opposing Israel to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Iran’s allies in the Middle East and who control a large part of the north and west of Yemen, have called every Friday the population marches in support of the Palestinian cause and their regime. “The British and Americans did not choose their day well. Friday, the demonstration was more imposing than usual », notes Helen Lackner, non-resident analyst and researcher at the Sana’a Center and author of Yemen in Crisis, Devastating Conflict, Fragile Hope (Saqi, 2023).
The current renewed tension allows the Yemeni rebels to place themselves at the center of the regional game, sending signals to both the Arab world and the Yemeni population. While American and British bombings carry the risk of strengthening the rebellion and accelerating the regionalization of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
During the night from Friday to Saturday, Washington announced that it had carried out a new strike against a “radar site” in the vicinity of Sanaa. The day before, American naval and air forces, supported by the British, had already struck a series of targets belonging to the Yemeni rebels. The latter had threatened to retaliate by attacking the interests of these two countries, now considered as “legitimate targets”. After the British and American air raids on Friday, the Houthis fired at least one missile, which however did not hit any ships.
Vital artery
In a joint statement, Washington, London and eight of their allies stressed that their objective was the ” de-escalation “ in the Red Sea. But Moscow condemned Western strikes “illegitimate from the point of view of international law”as did Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who criticized a response “disproportionate”.
Since November, the Yemeni rebel group has carried out at least 28 attacks targeting ships in the Red Sea and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, where 12% of global maritime trade and nearly a third of maritime traffic pass. containers. The objective claimed by the Houthis is to block ships coming from or going to Israel and to impose a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
You have 65% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.