In the most significant military operation of his second term so far, US President Donald Trump announced a series of strikes against Ansar Allah, a Yemeni Islamist group led by the Houthi family. The attacks may be only the beginning of a new campaign against the Houthis.
Following Trump’s first week back in office, when he re-designated Yemen’s Ansar Allah as a “foreign terrorist organization”(FTO) over its Gaza war-connected raids on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea. “The Houthis’ activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade,” the White House order stated.
What are the risks of US military intervention in Yemen?
However, the Trump government risks falling into a US pattern associated with the post-9/11 Global War on Terrorism, pursuing short-sighted military action at the cost of constructing a sustainable strategy for Yemen. Multiple US governments have overlooked the conflict’s complexities. It led to disappointment in conducting an enduring strategy that shields Washington’s interests in Yemen and the broader region. Yemen’s many converging disputes and dire humanitarian situations will not be resolved by US military activity. US military action will likely additionally institutionalize war, weapons flow foreign intervention, fragmentation, ineffective governance, and humanitarian disaster.
How does Yemen’s location influence regional security dynamics?
Yemen, located on one side of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, is a favorably strategic ground overlooking the entry/exit point of the Red Sea. Its location facilitates the Houthi attacks against global shipping ways. In addition, the hostility between neighbors, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), contributed to the Houthis’ gaining Iranian support in 2012. It is believed that Yemen’s instability is also a threat to Saudi Arabia and a source of potential strategic advantage to Iran.
Ansar Allaheven cooperated closely with Lebanese Hezbollah to purify its military and government structures. Accordingly, with US assistance, the Arabian Peninsula forces moderated to reshape the Yemeni battlefield in their turn. Further, its aggression against Israel, supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, has prompted Israeli retaliation, as its episodes on Red Sea shipping have spurred US retaliation.
What role do Russia and China play in the Yemeni conflict?
US competitors, Russia and China, have also started taking benefit of the openings the mixed Yemeni conflicts present.
An aerial assault was launched in 2015 by Saudi Arabia on northern Yemen with as much as $200 million per day in weapons costs. The UAE also interfered in Yemen, aiming to overturn Houthi control by supporting anti-Houthi militias. Therefore, Yemeni civilians persecuted by the overlapping confrontations are paying a staggering humanitarian cost.
By November 2024, the Houthis were also acquiring comprehensive support from Russia, “which apparently sees the Yemeni group as an instrument through which to retaliate for and deter Western support for Ukraine.” A Wall Street Journal report in October indicated that Russia supplied the Houthis with targeting data for its attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea—perhaps in–perhaps as compensation for unrestricted passage for Russian ships, as well as Yemeni youth, to be used as weapons in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Houthis have also been provided with missiles by China in exchange for leaving its ships alone.
What humanitarian costs have civilians faced in Yemen’s war?
Clearly, the row in Yemen has flourished largely part because of US and other Western insensibility and missteps. The neglect to prevent war was in large portion due to Low high-level attention and bandwidth devoted to Yemen even during periods of crisis… damaging decisive US policy action. Additionally, the designation of Ansar Allah as an FTO requires a review of US assistance programs in Yemen and terminates projects, grants, and agreements with entities found to have made payments to Houthi entities or to have not adequately documented Houthi abuses.
