The Middle East was engulfed by a series of conflicts after the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. In response, Israel declared a complete siege of the whole Gaza Strip violating international law, and continuous bombardment killed at least 25000 including 9600 children and 6750 women. The United Nations adopted many resolutions but failed due to the use of the Veto by the United States. But a country in the Middle East Yemen shows more support for Palestine and after the siege of Gaza by Israeli forces the Yemen Houthis declared war on Israel.

In a statement, the Military spokesperson for Yemen, Houthis Yahya Saree, stated: “Accordingly, with the help of God Almighty, our armed forces launched a large batch of ballistic and winged missiles and a large number of drones at various targets of the Israeli enemy in the occupied territories.” Not just declare war on Israel, the Yemeni Houthis blocked the Red Sea and started attacking commerce ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis argued that they are only attacking ships belonging to Israel or going to occupied territories of Palestine. They have launched many attacks on commerce ships in the Red Sea and forced major shipping lines to suspend passage through the major trade route.

In response to the Houthis attacks on commerce vessels in the Red Sea, the United States and its allies stated in a joint statement that “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.” The US and its allies formed a new operation called Operation Prosperity Guardian to defend against any Houthis attack on the Red Sea.

But instead of defense, the US and UK carried out the offensive attack on Houthi targets inside Yemen territory on Thursday night. The U.S. Air Force’s Mideast Command reported that they destroyed over 60 targets at 16 different locations inside Yemen, including “command-and-control center, ammunition depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems.” President Biden said in his statement “Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces—together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands—successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways.” On Saturday night, they carried out a new attack against Yemen.

The US Military Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that the Tomahawk missiles fired from the USS Carney destroyed a radar system. The US still attacking Houthi targets as the conflict is ongoing. In a statement, The Prime Minister of the U.K. Rishi Sunak stated that “The Royal Air Force (RAF) carried out targeted strikes against military facilities used by the Houthis.” The government of the UK further stated that “The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond has already been active alongside the US, Four RAF Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a Voyager air refueling tanker, therefore, used Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct precision strikes on two Houthi facilities (Bani and Abbs).” The Netherlands, Australia, Canada, and Bahrain provided necessary support as part of the mission.

The Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi while responding to US, and UK strikes stated that “Any American attack will not remain without a response. The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with 20 drones and several missiles.” Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi’s supreme revolutionary committee wrote on X formally known as Twitter that “ The US, UK air strikes on the Republic of Yemen will not go unnoticed” Further the Spokesperson of Houthis Mohammed al-Bukhaiti wrote on X, formally known as Twitter, that “America and Britain made a mistake in launching the war on Yemen because they did not benefit from their previous experiences.”

The Houthis are now targeting US and UK ships and according to reports from US officials on Monday, January 15, the Houthis fired a missile towards a US-owned ship in response to the US, and UK strikes against Yemen but the missile was intercepted by US forces.

According to Houthi military Spokesperson Yahya Saree, the Yemeni Navy of Yemen armed forces targeted an American military cargo ship (Ocean Jazz) in the Gulf of Aden. But the U.S. Defence officials tell Fox News that the reports of Ocean Jazz being targeted by Houthis in the Gulf of Aden are not true.

On 7 Jan 2020, Joe Biden wrote on Twitter, criticizing Donald J. Trump (President at that time) “Let’s be clear: Donald Trump does not have the authority to take us into war with Iran without congressional approval. A president should never take this nation to war without the informed consent of the American people.” Now when he is the President of the United States, started another war in the Middle East without congressional approval and escalated the conflict to the regional level.

The importance of maintaining the security and stability of the Red Sea region is crucial due to its key role in global trade, which accounts for approximately 10% of the world’s shipping. The blockade of the Red Sea will lead to an increase in shipping costs because shipping vessels will have to travel all the way from Africa to reach the Mediterranean Sea.

Furthermore, the regional instability could draw the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates into confrontation as they recently détente relations with Iran and Yemen with the help of Chinese mediation. Iran also going to be involved in the war because of a recent blast in Iran killing hundreds and a bombing in Syria that killed Iranian soldiers (IRGC).  Iran blames Israel for all the attacks carried out against Iran and claims that Iran has the right to respond.

The military base in Iraq operated by the US army was also hit by multiple rockets claimed to be fired by Iran-backed militias inside Iraqi territory.

The attacks on the US and Iran could potentially bring the US, and Israel into a confrontation with Iran. Another impact on Yemen is that it suffered too much from the nine-year-long civil war, and now another war is going to make the lives of poor people worse. Yemen is now controlled by two large groups, the Iranian-backed Houthis and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) western Yemen including the capital Sana is under Houthi control, Southern Yemen is under STC control and there are also other small groups with little control or influence.

Yemen has experienced the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis during a nine-year civil war resulting in an estimated 233,000 deaths, including 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack of food, basic health services, and poor infrastructure. About 20.1 million people of Yemen, are affected by the greatest food crisis in history, so if the recent strikes lead to a full-scale war then the situation will be catastrophic and will bring more destruction to Yemen than that caused by nine years of civil war.

The US and UK strikes against Yemen could escalate the conflict in the Middle East. They should follow the peaceful way (through negotiations) to avoid further escalation as the famous philosopher Carl Von Clausewitz said “War is a serious means to serious ends.” The international community should come forward to avoid regional conflict in the Middle East and resolve the Israel and Hamas conflict, as it is the main root cause of conflicts.