Western countries have been warned the Houthi rebels may be “willing to escalate” tensions as they have the means and desire to face the US and its allies in a conflict.
Weeks after the rebel group started terrorising commercial ships crossing the Red Sea and went as far as launching rockets at a US vessel, Washington and London launched a series of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The US carried out another strike against a Houthi-controlled site on Saturday. Both the US and the UK have raised the prospect of further airstrikes.
The Houthis appeared defiant in light of the strikes, with a spokesperson for the Yemeni group saying the bombardment “will not go unanswered and unpunished”.
And the threat should be taken seriously by the West, according to Farea al Muslimi, from the Chatham House Middle East programme.
He told the Guardian: “The Houthis are far more savvy, prepared and well-equipped than many western commentators realise. Their recklessness and willingness to escalate in the face of a challenge are always underrated.”
On Sunday (January 14), a US fighter aircraft had to shoot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from the Houthi-controlled territory towards the USS Laboon.
Another expert, Maysaa Shuja al-Deen from the Sana’a Centre for Strategic Studies, said the strikes launched by the UK and the US “will make the Houthis believe they are no longer local players but regional players legitimised in their own right for directly confronting America”.
Also speaking to the Guardian, the analyst said she can see the Yemenite group going as far as launching missiles towards Bahrain, the only Arab country that has supported the US-led military action in defence of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
The Houthis are a group backed militarily and economically by Iran – much like the Hezbollah and Hamas.
The rebels, who control Yemen’s capital Sana’a and northern and western parts of the Middle Eastern nation, started launching their attack on ships in the Red Sea in mid-November, when they also seized a commercial vessel and took its crew hostage.
The group has claimed to be targeting only vessels linked to Israel in response to the war in Gaza and in support of Palestinians.
The Red Sea is one of the most important global trade routes, with nearly 15 percent of the goods imported into Europe, the Middle East and North Africa being shipped from Asia and the Gulf by this sea. Refined oil and crude oil are also transported in large quantities through this route.
In the wake of the actions by the Houthis, some shipping companies have been changing their journeys, taking a longer route along South Africa which creates delivery delays and higher costs.
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