Yemen's Houthi rebels, allies of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, launched this Wednesday (10) their largest and most complex attack in the Red Sea since the outbreak of the war between the Palestinian terrorist group and Israel.
American fighter jets and warships from Washington and London intercepted a combination of 18 drones, two cruise missiles and an antiship missile in at least two locations near the Yemeni coast.
According to the Western Allies, all weapons were dropped without causing any damage. F18 fighters from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower, which is in the Red Sea, the American destroyers USS Gravely, USS Laboon and USS Mason, and the British HMS Diamond took part in the action.
Initially, the Americans and British said that only merchant ships had been targeted. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said in a speech that his forces had targeted an American ship carrying weapons bound for Israel, without elaborating, and that it was in retaliation for the deaths of the group's soldiers in U.S.scuttled speedboats last week has been.
British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said he believed the destroyers were also the target of the attack. According to the US Central Command, “This was the 26th Houthi attack on Red Sea trade routes since November 19.”
According to the intelligence company Ambrey, which specializes in maritime security, the action took place near the Yemeni ports of Hodeida and Mokha. The Houthis, Shiites like their patrons in Tehran, have been waging a civil war since 2014 after driving the local government from the capital Sanaan into the country's southern areas.
Their attacks reportedly targeted ships with some connection to Israel, which they occasionally attacked early in the war on October 7, but were unsuccessful due to the Jewish state's air defenses. Since November, their actions have focused on the region's dangerous waters.
The U.S. has expanded a task force that has operated against piracy in this sea since 2002, relying primarily on ships from NATO allies. [clube militar ocidental]. The British deployments of Sea Viper missiles are the country's first in the region since the 1991 Gulf War.
Around 15% of global shipping traffic passes through the Red Sea. Several cargo carriers have rerouted their routes out of the region, despite increased protection from a group of American aircraft carriers there. Freight and oil prices have risen, but the longterm impact is not yet clear.
The Houthis' insistence raises fears that the US and its allies will end up attacking positions in the country where a ceasefire is in jeopardy. This displeases Washington, which wants to prevent a regional escalation of the IsraelHamas conflict and has its largest base in the Middle East within range of Houthi missiles on the other side of the Red Sea off the coast of Djibouti.
Fears of a war between Israel and Hezbollah are growing
In Israel, the army's operations remain focused on the south of the Gaza Strip after Tel Aviv ended its main operations in the northern part of the region, which was virtually wiped out in the nearly hundred days of war.
But attention is turning to the northern border, where the previously controlled clashes between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, another Hamas and Iran ally in the region, threaten to spiral out of control.
On Tuesday (9), for the first time in this war, the Shiite group attacked one of Israel's most important military bases in the north of the country, in Safed. The action came after the death of a Hezbollah military commander in southern Lebanon.
This Wednesday, the pattern of exchanges of fire repeated itself: Israeli warplanes bombed their rivals' positions while Hezbollah bombarded cities in the Jewish state with antitank missiles.
Since the last major war between the two sides in 2006, analysts have been wondering when there will be a fight between Israel and Hezbollah. So far, the overt U.S. military presence in the region and domestic support problems in Lebanon have held back the Shiite group, but violence has intensified since Tel Aviv killed a Hamas leader in Beirut last week.
The gradual easing of the war in Gaza also favors the idea of a more open confrontation, as fears of two intense, simultaneous fronts of friction ease somewhat. On the other hand, one of the major US instruments to combat this flank of the conflict was lost: the aircraft carrier group USS Gerald Ford left the Mediterranean on Friday (5).
Meanwhile, Washington continues its diplomatic offensive and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas this Wednesday. The veteran leader told the American that only a twostate solution could solve the impasse in the region, without discussing the fact that his legitimacy at the helm of the Palestinian Authority was undermined.
The day before, Blinken had said something similar to Israel's leaders, responding to criticism from Democratic voters heading to the polls in the US in November who believe Tel Aviv has gone too far in retaliating for Hamas' megaattack in October had gone. In practice, however, the Israelis have so far stuck to their rules despite the pressure.