For months, senior U.S. officials have repeatedly said that President Joe Biden does not want to see Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip escalate into a broader conflict in the Middle East.
That’s the central message US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered this week as he made his fourth visit to the region since the start of the war. His trip took place against the backdrop of Israeli attacks in Lebanon and attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea.
“In the Red Sea, we want to avoid an escalation there,” Blinken said Thursday in Cairo, when asked about his efforts to prevent the conflict from escalating.
But hours later, the US confirmed it had worked with the UK to launch “strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels”, in coordination with a handful of others country.
Experts and rights advocates warn that the attacks conflict with the Biden administration’s stated de-escalation goals and fail to address the root cause of rising tensions in the region: the military assault Israeli on Gaza.
“This does go against what the administration has said, but it was also inevitable,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a group Quaker Defense Center in Washington, DC.
“Everyone observing this situation knew that it was only a matter of time before the war in Gaza spread to the entire region. And we see this not only in the Red Sea, but also in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“Without this ceasefire in Gaza, it is difficult to see how the situation could improve. And I think the simmering pot is now boiling over, and it’s just going to get worse with time. This is truly a very dangerous time.
Red Sea attacks
A senior US official told Reuters news agency on Friday that more than 150 munitions were used to strike nearly 30 sites linked to the Houthi armed group in Yemen.
The Iran-aligned Houthis control large swaths of Yemen, including the western coast overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which leads to the Red Sea. The group began firing missiles into Israel and attacking commercial shipping shortly after the start of the war on Gaza in October.
The group said it was targeting ships linked to Israel as part of an effort to pressure the Israeli government to end its bombing of Gaza and allow more humanitarian aid deliveries to the Palestinian coastal enclave.
The attacks in the Red Sea – a key commercial artery through which about 12% of global trade passes – led shipping companies to suspend operations in the region and drew condemnation from the United States and its allies.
In mid-December, Washington launched a multinational force aimed at defending “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea, and at the end of the month, American forces sank three Houthi boats, killing 10 fighters.
At a news conference Thursday in the Egyptian capital, Blinken condemned the Houthis and noted that the United Nations Security Council had passed a resolution a day earlier urging the group to end its attacks.
“A number of countries have made it clear that if this doesn’t stop there will be consequences, and unfortunately it hasn’t stopped. But we want to make sure that is the case, and we are prepared to do that,” the top US diplomat said.
Brian Finucane, senior US program adviser at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the US was widely expected to launch attacks against the Houthis in Yemen amid escalating clashes in the Red Sea.
But Finucane – who previously worked at the US State Department, advising on the use of military force – told Tel Aviv Tribune that the Yemen strikes show the Biden administration “has adopted a posture of self-delusion and a self-destructive policy.”
“On the one hand, they repeat in a mantra-like manner their desire to avoid a broader regional war. On the other hand, we already have this broader regional war and the underlying cause… is the conflict in Gaza, which the United States is fueling through its unconditional military support (for Israel),” he said .
“Arsonist and Firefighter”
Biden, who confirmed the strikes Thursday, said his administration was sending “a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom navigation on one of the most critical trade routes in the world. “.
“I will not hesitate to take further action to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce if necessary,” the US president said in a statement, which did not mention the Israeli war in Gaza.
Earlier this month, a senior administration official also rejected the Houthis’ claim that their attacks in the Red Sea were linked to Gaza, calling the justification “illegitimate.”
The war in Gaza has killed more than 23,700 Palestinians since October 7, sparking widespread international outcry and raising questions about the risk of genocide.
According to Finucane, the United States’ failure to “recognize the reality” – that the war in Gaza is at the heart of current regional tensions – “will make it very difficult to develop effective policy”.
And while the United States said its nighttime strikes in Yemen were “intended to disrupt and degrade Houthi capabilities,” Finucane questioned whether they would actually stem attacks in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Houthis have already withstood years of bombardment in a war led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The group is currently in talks with Riyadh on a lasting ceasefire.
“I think it’s really important to recognize that the United States is simultaneously playing the role of arsonist and fireman in the Middle East,” Finucane said.
“He is adding fuel to the fire in Gaza, while at the same time trying to quell outbreaks elsewhere in the region – outbreaks that endanger U.S. service members. »
Key to ceasefire in Gaza
Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni American assistant professor at Michigan State University, said she was disheartened but not surprised to see the Biden administration launch attacks on Yemen.
“This is not surprising because we have repeatedly seen evidence (that) US policy in the Middle East, and in Yemen specifically, has been a reactive policy, driven by violence,” he said. she told Tel Aviv Tribune. “Airstrikes seem to be the preferred solution, regardless of which administration has been in power over the past two decades. »
She added that if the Biden administration truly wanted to ease regional tensions, it would push for a ceasefire in Gaza. “Their words do not match their actions. »
The Biden administration has provided Israel with military and diplomatic support since the start of the Gaza war, without drawing “red lines” on how these resources can be used. He also blocked UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire and rejected a complaint to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, also told Tel Aviv Tribune in a television interview on Thursday that the attacks in Yemen highlight U.S. failure and the United Kingdom to put pressure on Israel. end its war in Gaza.
“The question that needs to be asked is: ‘Why do the British and American governments prefer escalation and war, primarily to prevent the Houthis from attacking shipping, rather than taking the route of ceasefire in Syria?’ Gaza?’ “, did he declare.
A ceasefire, Parsi explained, would end the massacres of Palestinians, help secure the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza, and stem attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, which have also intensified since the beginning of October.
“The Biden administration’s strategy has been to try to achieve de-escalation through escalation,” he said. “And it clearly doesn’t seem to work in the long term, because the Houthis are unlikely to back down. »
This was echoed by El-Tayyab, who told Tel Aviv Tribune that “more war is not and never has been the solution.”
“They should try to end the war in Gaza for the sake of it, because there is a massive humanitarian crisis,” he said, pointing to the mass displacement of Palestinians and warnings of famine in Gaza.
“But a ceasefire in Gaza would also effectively mitigate the escalation and violence in Lebanon’s Bab al-Mandeb Strait, (to) secure all people in the region – Arabs and Israelis alike. – and guarantee American interests. abroad.”
El-Tayyab added: “In reality, the only way out of this mess is diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy. »