National Interest magazine said that the world is wondering how the Houthis in Yemen will respond to the series of devastating strikes launched by the United States and Britain on their targets to deter their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Will they, for example, target the American naval base in Djibouti?
In a report by Emily Milliken, the magazine recalled the US-British attacks aimed at weakening the Houthis’ capabilities and acting as a deterrent to future attacks, suggesting that the Houthis will remain able to launch naval attacks, and that these strikes will encourage them to intensify their attacks on the United States, Israel and their allies in the short term.
Shortly after the raid on the radar site, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam said that the American attack would not deter the group from targeting ships linked to Israel. Another Houthi official said that the group had drawn up a list of targets that included American bases in the region, which could include American bases in Saudi Arabia. Jordan, the Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Syria.
However, one of the obvious targets was not mentioned, which is the US Navy base Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, although it is located 80 miles from Yemen, and it is the primary base for US African Command (AFRICOM) operations in the Horn of Africa, and hosts about 4,000 soldiers from the United States. The United States and allied countries, and it has been used for operations against the Houthis for years.
In addition to the Camp Lemonnier base, the Houthis – who claim to have a liquid-fueled missile with a range of up to 1,200 miles – can target the nearby Chabelle Airport, where the army has operated Predator and Reaper drones since their transfer from Lemonnier in 2013.
However, if there is something that keeps Djibouti safe from Houthi attacks – according to the writer – it is its government’s fierce support for Palestine since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on the seventh of last October and long before the attack, as the Prime Minister confirmed that Djibouti will not allow the United States The United States has decided to deploy missile launchers in the country or use it as a base for operations against the Houthis, because it considers the group’s naval attacks to be “legitimate relief for the Palestinians.”
Moreover, Djibouti announced that it is reluctant to participate in the US-led naval coalition in Operation Prosperity Sentinel to fight the Houthis, and was one of the five countries that called on the International Criminal Court last November to investigate Israeli war crimes in the territories. Palestinian.