Dangerous escalation
The air raid on Yemen is an act of war and has come without any international sanction. It has led to escalation in the Middle East and warring parties are now posturing for a deadly inevitable conflict. The heavy bombardment of Houthi targets deep inside the Arab state, which has been wrecked by a civil-strife since 2014, was, according to the US and the UK, in retaliation for months of attacks on Red Sea shipping. Houthis say they are targeting Israel-bound ships to stymie “genocide” by the Netanyahu regime, which has killed more than 23,000 Gazans, mostly women and children, and decimated infrastructure over the past 100 days.
Houthis attack on Israeli vessels was meant to invoke global attention for rallying with Palestinians. In doing so, they spared ships from other countries, including those of Israel’s Western allies. Major shipping companies started avoiding the Red Sea, forcing the US to cobble up a coalition of allies to launch ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ which crashed before takeoff as the major regional states decided to stay away and even Western allies pulled out.
The air blitz appears to be a desperate attempt by the sole global maritime power to secure this vital shipping route. Houthis have already threatened retaliation, raising sepctre of a regional conflict. This will surely come to impact the commonality of interests that many of the Arab and Muslim states share with the US, despite their reservations over the latter’s bias towards Israel. The dangerous escalation proves the incapacity of the US and the UK to flag peace in times of exigency.
This attack on Houthis is bound to flare sentiments across the Muslim world. The hearing in the International Court of Justice against Israel — as it is being tried for genocide on a petition filed by South Africa and backed by Malaysia — has already set the ball rolling. There is a cost that the US and its allies will have to pay, as in the post-October 7 Gaza episode, there have been unprecedented protests across the globe against what has been dubbed “Israel’s self-defence right”.
Washington has once again erred in judging the ground realities in the Middle East. President Joe Biden should have opted for some intense diplomacy to deescalate the situation. His Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, was advised by the Arab leadership to prevail over the far-right Israeli war cabinet, and broker a thaw, and this is what he should have done. This brinkmanship has torpedoed all avenues of reconciliation, and left behind a messy equation to sort out. This is no time for precision-guided munitions, but for talking it out with all stakeholders. The exacerbation is undesired.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2024.
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