The end of the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza last Friday is leading to a renewed escalation of war between the United States and Iranian-backed groups in various parts of the Middle East. These clashes came amid Israel’s fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which threatens to escalate into a larger regional confrontation.
Tensions between the sides rose sharply again on Sunday when Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement launched four ballistic missile and drone attacks against three merchant ships passing through the strategically important Red Sea, according to US Central Command (Centcom). lead. . The attacks caused no injuries but prompted a U.S. warship stationed in the area to intervene. Washington believed the actions were “entirely enabled by Iran.” “These attacks pose a direct threat to international trade and maritime security,” Centcom said in a statement.
The first of these attacks occurred early Sunday morning when several rockets fired from areas controlled by Houthi forces in Yemen struck near a Bahamas-flagged cargo ship, according to Centcom. Around midday, the US warship stationed in the area shot down a drone that had taken off from the same area and was flying in its direction, although the target is unclear. A few minutes later, the previous merchant ship was hit by another missile from Yemen and attacked with a drone, which was destroyed in the air.
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In the afternoon, a second merchant ship and a bulk carrier, both Panamanian-flagged, were attacked from Houthi-controlled territory, and the American ship in the area shot down another drone en route, according to Centcom. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the attacks on two merchant vessels, saying they were Israeli vessels. He reiterated that his forces consider Israeli ships – as well as those with Israeli ties – as “legitimate targets” until the aggression against Gaza ceases.
In the week before this wave of attacks, four further incidents were recorded on the high seas. According to Centcom, two of these were similar attacks from Houthi-controlled areas against a Liberian-flagged oil tanker, as well as a US aircraft carrier and a warship. The other two incidents involved a second US aircraft carrier being harassed by Iranian speedboats and drones in the Persian Gulf, US Naval Forces Central Command and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reported.
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The Houthis’ largest attack occurred on November 19, when a group of heavily armed militiamen seized control of a commercial freighter partly owned by an Israeli shipowner after overtaking it with a helicopter. By the time the Gaza ceasefire began, the Houthis had carried out attacks directly against Israel at least nine times. But all were intercepted except for two, which accidentally hit two Egyptian cities in the Red Sea.
Groups in Syria and Iraq
Since the end of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, activity by Iran-aligned groups has also resumed in Syria and Iraq. According to the Pentagon, at least two bases with a US presence in northeastern Syria have been attacked with missiles since last Friday. And on Sunday, the United States attacked members of an Iran-backed militia in northern Iraq who were preparing to attack, killing five of them, a group made up of several Iraqi armed factions said.
Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq attacked at least 74 U.S. positions between mid-October and the start of the Gaza ceasefire after failing to do so for months, according to the Pentagon, which admitted to more than 60 minor injuries. . An American contractor was killed in a false alarm. The US, for its part, had acknowledged about 15 strikes in eastern Syria and three other unusual strikes in Iraq, one of which killed nearly a dozen members of a pro-Iranian militia.
The exchange of blows between the United States and this constellation of armed groups in Iraq and Syria began on a limited scale, in a mutual attempt to minimize damage and reduce the risk of a spiral of violence, but in the days before the ceasefire in Gaza Both were the case. The teams began to become more aggressive. In this context, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed al Sudani, reiterated his rejection of new attacks on Iraqi territory in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last Saturday.
Since Israel launched its military operation in Gaza, Washington has sent two aircraft carriers to the Middle East, including the largest in the world, with thousands of soldiers on board and accompanied by several warships, some of which have been involved in some of the incidents of recent days. The United States has also announced the deployment of a submarine, although they normally operate in secret, as well as the deployment of new air defense systems and 1,200 soldiers. Before Israel’s attack on Gaza, the United States had about 2,500 troops stationed in Iraq and 900 in Syria, officially as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State.
The Pentagon reiterates that this major increase in its military capabilities in the Middle East meets four main objectives: deter Iranian-backed groups from opening new fronts outside the Gaza Strip; protect Israel’s security during its military operation in the Gaza Strip; and protect its own troops in the region as well as its citizens.
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