Are US-UK attacks on Yemen effective?
America and Britain wage second round of joint attacks on Yemen
TEHRAN- The United States and Britain have staged another joint bombing campaign on Ansarullah targets in Yemen in response to the movement's embargo against Israeli and Israeli-affiliated ships sailing the Red Sea.
It is the second major wave of airstrikes carried out by American and British forces on Ansarullah sites in Yemen in under a fortnight, raising questions about their deterrence power as the Israeli regime's economy suffers.
Although the strikes are the second time British forces have joined in, for U.S. forces, it is the eighth wave of attacks in response to Ansarullah's military operations against Israeli shipping in a crucial commercial maritime route.
About 12 days ago, American and British warships and fighter jets struck more than 60 targets in 28 locations in Yemen.
The Americans and the British had hoped the initial attacks would be enough to stop further naval military operations by Ansarullah against Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea.
Very few believed that this would be the case.
And Ansarullah proved it wasn't to be so with the movement expanding its targets to Israeli and American ships sailing off Yemen's waters.
The Israeli seaport of Eilat sits on the Red Sea and has seen an 85 percent drop in shipping activity, its chief executive told Reuters. As bombs rain on Yemen, the Sanaa government has conducted more military operations, rendering the American-British aggression ineffective.
On Tuesday, just one day after the American-British aggression, a UK military agency reported an incident, 46 nautical miles south of Yemen's port city of Mokha on the Red Sea coast. Ansarullah's naval forces targeted another cargo vessel, which it struck with a missile.
Just before the latest joint attacks on Monday, Ansarullah announced it had successfully targeted a U.S. military support ship. The movement said it had attacked the American military cargo ship, Ocean Jazz, in the Gulf of Aden.
Yemeni military sources have told regional media that the latest raids targeted sites that had already been struck dozens of times and were of no significance as they did not house any weapons or equipment.
A statement from Ansarullah's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said, "The Yemeni armed forces continue to retaliate to any American or British aggression against our country by targeting all sources of threats in the Red and Arab Sea."
The government in Sanaa can, and most likely will, continue launching locally made drones and missiles at Israeli and U.S. vessels as well as U.S. warships whilst Britain and America will be compelled to strike back with expensive ordinance.
It appears the two Western powers are being drawn into something they are unable to finish it.
In a post on social media, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior political official and spokesman for the government in Sana'a, reacted to the latest strikes, saying, "The American-British aggression will only increase the Yemeni people’s determination to carry out their moral and humanitarian responsibilities towards the oppressed in Gaza."
Al-Bukhaiti added, "The war today is between Yemen, which is helping to stop the crimes of genocide in Gaza, and the American-British coalition to support and protect its perpetrators."
Posting a video that showed Palestinian children dying, he added "Thus, every party or individual in this world is faced with two choices that have no thirds: either to preserve its humanity and stand with Yemen, or to lose it and stand with the American-British alliance. Who do you stand with as you watch these (Israeli) crimes (against Gazan children)?”
Mohammed al-Houthi, the head of Ansarullah's Supreme Revolutionary Committee, has also issued a warning to Washington and Britain.
"We say to the American and the British... Trust well that every operation and every aggression against our country will not pass without a response, and expect a response every minute, if not every second, then every minute it must," Mohammed al-Houthi said.
Israel relies heavily on maritime trade. Ansarullah's military operations against Israeli vessels pose a major threat to the regime's economy, and experts say it could take a greater toll if they continue.
The Israeli seaport of Eilat sits on the Red Sea and has seen an 85 percent drop in shipping activity, its chief executive told Reuters. He also told Israeli media that without a reversal of Ansarullah's embargo on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea "unfortunately we will likely have to furlough workers".
Whilst the Israeli port of Haifa handles the largest volume of trade, Eilat also plays a crucial role in the regime's economy.
According to Israeli media, Eilat is a key entry point for imports from East Asia, including vehicles, which make up most of those sold inside the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Fewer cars arriving is contributing to rising prices.
Vessels that used to pass through the Suez Canal to reach the regime's busier ports on the Mediterranean are also feeling the economic ripple effects.
Many top shipping agencies have stopped traffic in or out of the corridor, which essentially starts at Bab el Mandeb off Yemen's waters, followed by the Red Sea, and ends at the Canal. This is despite a U.S.-led coalition in the regional waterway seeking to provide safe passage for Israeli ships.
Even minor changes to Red Sea shipping cause a major challenge for the entry of medical supplies to the regime amid an "unprecedented number" of Israeli war casualties, according to Moshe Cohen, chief executive of Yad Sarah, the largest non-governmental medical supplies lender in the occupied territories.
Delays caused by Ansarullah strikes directed at vessels heading to the regime's ports could "pose a life-endangering delay of critically needed supplies" for Israeli soldiers, he said in an emailed statement to the Wall Street Journal.
The risk now facing America and Britain is that they will be drawn into a military conflict with Ansarullah, which they cannot stop amid no practical plans by the two Western allies for an end game.
Meanwhile, Ansarullah has proven to the world that they are the ones supporting Gaza by taking on the two big Western powers.