TEHRAN - The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that it wants to avoid a wider conflict in West Asia since Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7.

However, Washington’s militaristic policy contradicts its claims. 

The U.S. has conducted new strikes against Yemen, Iraq, and Syria over the past days, raising fears of escalating the Gaza war into a full-scale conflict. 

On Saturday, the United States and United Kingdom with the support of several other countries carried out fresh attacks inside Yemen. The CENTCOM said it launched “proportionate” attacks with “support” from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. 

Washington, London and their allies said in a joint statement that thirty-six targets were hit “across 13 locations around midnight Saturday”.

The statement said the strikes intended to degrade the capabilities of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement over their military operations against Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea.

The strikes came a day after the U.S. air assaults in Iraq and Syria. Washington said the attacks targeted the positions of resistance groups and were in retaliation for the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan late last month.  

The Ansarullah movement has launched dozens of missile, drone and boat attacks on Israeli-affiliated commercial ships in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Saturday’s assault was the third joint U.S.-Britain campaign on Yemen since the Ansarullah movement began to target Israeli interests.

“Attacks won’t go unanswered”

The Yemeni Army said Washington and its allies will fail to deter Red Sea operations through these assaults. 

“Such attacks will not deter the Yemeni forces and nation from keeping up their support for Palestinians in the face of the Zionists’ occupation and crimes. The raids by the aggressors will not go unanswered,” Brigadier General Yahya Saree said. 

A top member of the Ansarullah Political Council also said the Yemeni Army will continue its military operations until Israel ends its atrocities in Gaza. 

"The U.S.-British coalition’s bombing of a number of Yemeni provinces will not change our position, and we affirm that our military operations against Israel will continue until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped and the siege on its residents is lifted, no matter the sacrifices it costs us," Mohammed Al Bukhaiti said. 

He added, "Our war is moral, and if we had not intervened to support the oppressed in Gaza, humanity would not have existed among humans. The American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered, and we will meet escalation with escalation.”

“Circle of fire”

The Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad also condemned the attack against Yemen. 

“These attacks seek to ignite the region and expand the circle of fire,” the Islamic Jihad said. It said, “We affirm that Washington and Western capitals are still managing the

Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and providing it with political and economic cover and military support.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that Washington will continue to strike Yemen if the Ansarullah movement does not stop its Red Sea military operations. 

“This collective action sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels,” Austin said. 

Austin’s comments indicate that the Pentagon is under the illusion that strikes can bring the Ansarullah movement to its knees. 

But a look at Yemen’s resistance against Saudi Arabia’s aggression can shed light on the futility of such ideas. 

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a bloody war on Yemen in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistical support from several Western countries, in particular the U.S. 

The Kingdom pursued two main goals. Crushing the Ansarullah movement, and restoring Riyadh-backed ex-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to power. Hadi had resigned in late 2014 amid a political dispute with the Ansarullah movement and later fled to Saudi Arabia. 

For nearly eight years, Saudis flew tens of thousands of airstrikes over Ansarullah targets and bombed everywhere in the areas that were controlled by the movement. 

But, Saudi Arabia not only failed to achieve its goals but also achieved the opposite. It spent colossal amounts of money and suffered economic blows. 

In April 2022, Riyadh signed a ceasefire with the Ansarullah.  Although the truce deal lapsed just six months later, but they have not returned to full-scale conflict and the pause in fighting has largely held.

Years of the Saudi war failed to weaken the Ansarullah movement. Surprisingly, it is now emerging much stronger. 

The Yemeni Army has been able to boost its military capabilities by producing missiles and drones despite years of siege imposed by Saudi Arabia.  

Nearly eight years of Saudi strikes failed to force the Ansarullah movement to surrender. So, how can the U.S. push the movement to give in by a series of attacks?

Former U.S. President Donald Trump had adopted a harsher position toward Ansarullah. He designated the group as a terrorist organization in January 2021. But he did so during his last days in office. This shows that the Republican president was aware the designation was not a really good idea, otherwise he had blacklisted Ansarullah sooner. 

Trump was just seeking to give a gift to Saudi Arabia and hamstring the Biden administration. 

Consequently, Biden revoked Trump’s decision during his first weeks in office.

Presently, it stands out a mile that the U.S. cannot bring a permanent halt to the Ansarullah’s military operations in the Red Sea through military force. 

As Ansarullah and other regional resistance groups have announced, tensions in West Asia will de-escalate if Israel stops its genocidal war in the besieged Gaza territory. 

Instead of resorting to military force, the U.S. should place plans on the agenda and exert pressure on the Israeli regime to end the war on Gaza. 

By Shahrokh Saei