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The Houthis are turning the tables on everyone

By Dr Mohammad Makram Balawi | MEMO | December 21, 2023

The escalating attacks on ships in the Arabian Sea and the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait by the Houthi movement in Yemen pose a real threat to the Israeli, Western and American economies. The Red Sea is one of the world’s busiest shipping routes for oil and gas. Most of the major shipping companies, such as the world’s largest container company, Italian and Swiss-owned Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Denmark-based Maersk, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, and France’s CMA CGM have suspended their use of the Red Sea.

Due to the Houthi attacks, ships now have to go around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, adding 4,000 nautical miles to the journey. This will result in the doubling of the shipping costs, to $4,000 per forty-foot container. According to experts, this change is due to the extra fuel cost of $1 million for each vessel going via the Cape instead of the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

The Houthis are apparently applying an ethically justified approach built on the same logic used by the Israeli occupation state. Israel besieges the Gaza Strip and grants itself the right to do so. With this logic, the group grants itself the right to besiege Israel and links the opening of the strait to lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

As the attacks intensify and pose a real danger to maritime routes, causing many companies to fear using the Red Sea and raising the cost of insurance and transportation, the US has announced the formation of an international naval coalition intended to protect cargo vessels. Ironically, though, the US is the largest country to impose blockades on other states and use sanctions as a weapon.

While previous US presidents considered any foreign war as an opportunity to rally the American people behind them and give themselves an electoral boost, the situation under President Joe Biden is different. He is the main advocate of the war against Russia in Ukraine, which he is losing despite throwing billions of dollars into it. Engaging in an armed confrontation with the Houthis would be a resounding failure, since the group has little to lose and does not fear war. Indeed, it would gain more legitimacy as the only force in Yemen to be fighting imperialism. Moreover, its war with the Saudi-led Arab coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, has shown that it is resilient, and able to force the coalition to freeze combat missions after years of fighting.

The outbreak of another war in this region would mean serious long-term disruption and increased transportation costs, as well as rising fuel and energy costs for end users. This would have a major impact on Europe during the winter given the already suspended supplies of oil and gas from Russia. Crude oil prices are already creeping up.

The impact of a war would be challenging for Biden as well. The US president sees himself as the, not a, world leader, but he faces difficult choices. He is accused of corruption and faces domestic issues, as does his rival, former President Donald Trump. In addition, the existing wars and crises are having long-term negative impacts on Washington’s standing and international influence.

Despite this, it seems to be impossible for Americans to consider alternative, more intelligent means to approach problems instead of military “shock and awe”. The US and its protégé Israel have always tried to play the role of gods in international politics, where what they want becomes a reality regardless of international laws and conventions. This may succeed in the short term, but it backfires in the long run, as seen in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Armed interference in all of these countries has drained the US and its people, who are generally controlled by the political, economic and media elites.

These elites combined work systemically to nurture violence among American citizens, implanting a gung-ho mentality with war seen as the most effective way to solve international problems. Hollywood and video games instill the idea of US (and Israeli) exceptionalism and invulnerability in the minds of the public, so that it becomes easy to recruit them to fight and die in the elite’s battles. The US helps to spread racism in the world by creating divisions among people and inciting them against each other. The old principle well-loved by settler-colonial states is divide and rule; people are easier to manipulate, helping to ensure the concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite that fosters racism.

A simple comparison with cinema in Iran — which the US designates as a sponsor of terrorism — reveals a stark difference. Iranian cinema only rarely focuses on humanitarian and social topics, and hardly ever depicts violence, unlike Hollywood, which thrives on screen violence, normalising it and de-sensitising the audience to the extent that people find it easier to harm their fellow human beings in the service and interests of the elite.

While the economy is failing and education is facing great challenges in America, the government is spending trillions of dollars on unjustified and futile wars, including the one which Israel is waging against the Palestinian people. Sinking more and more resources in the quagmire of the Middle East will only lead to more suffering within America and abroad. Likewise, what is happening in Yemen will have an impact worldwide, not just in Gaza.

The consequences of a war against the Houthis will be much broader, dragging the Zionist colonial project and Western imperialism into a hellish scenario. Regardless of what the Zionists and their supporters in the West believe, they did not create a safe haven for Jews when they created the state of Israel in the heart of the Arab world. The Houthis are turning the tables on everyone in their defence of the Palestinians against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

December 21, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Timeless or most popular | , , , , , | 1 Comment

DC-Based Think Tank: Red Sea Operation to Cost Biden Regime Highly

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 21.12.2023

The military op against the Houthis will be expensive for the US, especially if it escalates into a regional conflict, a DC-based think tank has warned.

The Houthis have made it clear that they are to proceed with attacks in the Red Sea following US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement of a new US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian in the region.

As per the Pentagon, the Yemeni Shiite group has carried out 100 drone and missile attacks since October 7. The Houthis have recently stepped up their assaults in the Red Sea against US warships and Israeli-linked vessels in a bid to force Tel Aviv into halting its ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

The assaults have demonstrated that the Yemen militants possess a sizable and relatively advanced arsenal, according to the US press. What’s more, Houthi drones and missiles are cheaper than US interceptors used to shoot them down.

Therefore, it would cost Washington a “pretty penny” to defend the sea lanes going through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, according to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft:

  • Each US munition used to intercept the Houthi rockets and drones costs between $1 million and $4.3 million;
  • US missiles reportedly used to shoot down Houthi projectiles and UAVs include the SM-2 ($2.1 million); SM-6 ($4.3 million); ESSM Sea Sparrows ($1.7 million); and Rolling Airframe missile ($905,000);
  • US ships cannot reload in the Red Sea and will have to return to port if the kinetic activity goes on much longer, which also means additional costs.

The conflict in the Red Sea threatens to become protracted given that neither warring side is inclined to back down.

The Biden administration has already gathered a 10-nation coalition and sent additional warships to the region. Top Houthi commander Mohammed al-Bukhaiti tweeted on December 19 that “Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our military operations will not stop … no matter the sacrifices it costs us.” Israel is also showing no signs of scaling down its military op in the Gaza Strip where civilian casualties are continuing to stockpile.

Under these circumstances, there is a serious threat of the Red Sea turning into a new war theater, according to the DC-based think tank.

In that case, the costs related to the US-led task force in the Red Sea could become much higher, especially at the time when the US has been depleting its military arsenals supporting proxy war efforts in Ukraine and Israel’s Gaza war.

To complicate matters further, the Red Sea op may expose US troops and sailors to danger. “It is important for the American people to assess if what happens next is truly in the national interest,” the DC-based think tank concluded.

December 21, 2023 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , | Leave a comment

Journalist: The US and Israel are in a quagmire, and the end is clear for everybody to see

By Fantine Gardinier – Sputnik – 20.12.2023

If the US decides to launch direct attacks on Yemeni forces imposing a blockade against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, it will only make Washington’s tenuous situation in the Middle East worse and expand the conflict across the region at a time when the US public is increasingly opposed to such wars, a journalist told Sputnik.

Several major global shipping companies announced that they are to seek alternate routes from the Red Sea after the Yemeni militant group Ansarallah, better known as the Houthi movement, closed it to Israeli cargo traffic, throwing global trade into chaos. In response, the US has mobilized an international task force dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian to keep the sea lanes open.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is weighing whether its patrols will be purely defensive in nature or will also include offensive strikes against Ansarallah targets in Yemen, which the group mostly controls after eight years of brutal civil war and Saudi-led military intervention.

Ansarallah’s actions, which include capturing several Israel-linked vessels in the area in recent weeks, are in response to Tel Aviv’s invasion of Gaza, which has killed nearly 20,000 people and displaced almost the entire population of 2.3 million. The group has also fired ballistic missiles at the southern Israeli port of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba in the northern Red Sea.

Beirut-based broadcaster and journalist Laith Marouf told Sputnik that the multinational task force assembled by the US includes several European allies but also Bahrain, a small Persian Gulf state that hosts a massive US Navy base, and the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean with a coast guard composed of nine small patrol boats used to combat piracy and illegal fishing.

“This is the alliance that the United States is going to face Yemen with to try to allow shipping to go through to the Zionist colony and not make it feel the pain that the Palestinians are feeling with the blockade in Gaza,” he said.

“The [recent] attack that the government in Sana’a did on the two ships in the Red Sea was the first attack recorded in any military of a ballistic missile hitting a naval target that is moving at 60-somewhat knots, which was [the speed at which] these ships were moving. So we see now that the Yemenis have actually some of the most advanced land-to-sea missiles in the world.

“Knowing that the American aircraft carrier is now parked on the shorelines of Somalia facing Yemen, they are in the range of these missiles. Probably the Yemenis will not need to hit this aircraft carrier if the United States actually attacks Yemen or any of the sites of launching these missiles from Yemen. The Yemeni forces, all they have to do is sink a few destroyers and that aircraft carrier will scurry running back home because it wouldn’t have any protection.”

“This is now a dangerous game that the United States is playing, all to defend this Zionist colony. And the American people hearing us right now must understand that the deaths of any American soldiers that are going to come in the next few days will be because the United States is defending the Zionist colony and is not defending itself. They will be dying for the sake of Israel,” he said.

“Canadian, French, British and American ships will be sinking if the United States or this coalition dares to attack Yemen. Yemen has been under attack for a decade by the United States and its vassals in the region, and even the vassals that were co-operating in the attacks on Yemen – namely the Saudi government and the United Arab Emirates government – have refused to join this coalition. Why? Because their assets will be fried if the United States attacks Yemen. And this is why we’re seeing right now: these vassals are each one of them being given a role.”

“The Emirates and the Saudis are continuing to allow trade to come through their ports on trucks to Jordan to the Zionist colony, and they’re all going to be kept out of this war. In this situation, it’s not only that their assets, their oilfields, would be attacked if they join this coalition, but also because they need to continue to be the lifeline of the Zionist colony in terms of trade in the future as this rolls out,” Marouf said.

Marouf added that “we will be entering a new stage of this war” if Yemen fires back on the coalition ships because it will trigger wider attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria by allied militia forces, which have been happening at a somewhat low intensity since early October.

The Axis of Resistance’s regional coordination against Israel and its allies “is going to be taught in military schools and strategists’ schools for decades to come,” Marouf told Sputnik.

“What has been rolling out for the last two and a half months, clearly, the Resistance Axis that includes all these groups in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen and Iran are very coordinated,” he said.

“They have all now shared all their capabilities in terms of military and training. So we see units of each one of these components that fought in the different battlefields across the last 15 years in the region. And the technology knowledge on building capabilities has been passed along across this whole region. So now we have a more kind of homogeneous coalition between these groups.

“They all have one thing that they agree on, which is ending American presence in the region and then sovereignty for the peoples. So to see them, how they are playing out right now, each one of them, their own role separately is a brilliant thing to watch. And the United States and Israel are in a quagmire, and the end is clear for everybody to see.”

Growing US Public Opposition

He likewise noted that opposition to the Israeli attack on Gaza has continued to grow in the United States, where new protests are happening daily in hundreds of cities and towns, and constituents are pressuring politicians to take a stand against the war.

“For the American voters, it’s becoming problematic as we come closer and closer to the elections in the United States. Both parties are championing genocide and the Zionist colony, and the vast majority of Americans do not want to be associated with this genocide and do not want their country to carry the brunt of financing and weaponizing this genocide,” he said.

“So what happens in the next election? I think Palestine, just like Vietnam in the 1970s, is going to be one of the decisive things that drive this election and actually the conversation of the United States as a whole. And I hope people of all walks of life take advantage of how Palestine now has exposed all the true lines of power and the limitations of the so-called ‘democracy and freedoms’ that were touted to be given to them and figure out something before the next election. Maybe to push for a third party, if that’s even possible at this moment.”

“But if the United States is in a regional war that is spilling into a global war before this election, it may be that this election will never happen in the United States. I’m maybe too pessimistic, but I see things from now till next year, if this war keeps on going in the stages that are and how long these stages are taking us, as we see it now, it’s taking us two and a half months to get to the stage of real possibility of a regional war. And once this a regional war, how long is it going to take for it to become a global world war? Those are things that may be indicating that all this experiment of democracy in the West is dead.”

Israel’s Economy in Dire Straits

Marouf noted that Israel was suffering severe economic repercussions due to the war, not just from the recently imposed Yemeni blockade, but also due to the constant bombardments from Gaza, the simmering border war with Hezbollah, and simply due to having mobilized hundreds of thousands of citizens into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

“There are 7 million ‘Jewish colonists’ in Palestine and already close to a million of them have left. And you know, many of them already have second citizenships, and we heard countries like Portugal all talk about 10,000 Israeli families applying for citizenship. These are the ones that don’t have citizenship that are already applying to European countries. And so we have an exit from the Zionist colony on a scale that we haven’t seen ever since 1948. And now we also, of course, all the economy of the state is at a total standstill because they have mobilized so many people into the military.”

“Ansarullah, the government in Yemen, has been able to shut down all trade, almost 88% of trade has stopped into the [Israeli] ports, even the ones in the Mediterranean. Because remember now, although all the ones that were supposed to go to the Red Sea port in the Aqaba Gulf had to turn around.

“So now there’s a delay in an empty space in Israeli ports for the next two weeks. So, the country is in a total standstill and it’s now living off the handouts coming from the West. And the American public has an ability to make a difference if they cut these handouts, because this country cannot continue to exist at this moment without that.”

December 20, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Solidarity and Activism, Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If US can clear way for ‘cease-fire in Gaza’, Red Sea problem would be solved

By Yang Sheng | Global Times | December 19, 2023 

The US-led joint patrol in the Red Sea following Houthi militia attacks against ships heading toward Israel shows that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Gaza is not only affecting the whole region, but also the international community. Chinese analysts pointed out that the root cause of the trade route problem is the ongoing conflict in Gaza, and only a sustainable cease-fire and allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza via land and sea routes can solve the problem in the Red Sea.

China will pay close attention to the situation, and Chinese naval vessels that conduct UN authorized anti-piracy missions in the region will keep performing their duty, analysts said, adding that China will stick to the priority of realizing a cease-fire and clear the way for humanitarian aid for the people in Gaza, rather than joining the US to conduct any military operations without UN authorization to escalate the crisis in Gaza.

The US and a host of other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Tuesday in Bahrain, the AP reported.

The UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain have joined, Austin said. Some of those countries will conduct joint patrols while others will provide intelligence support in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthi militia attacked two commercial ships in the Red Sea with naval drones on Monday. The recent attacks have caused concerns about the impact on the passage of oil, grain and other goods on what is an important global trade route, and have pushed up the cost of insuring and shipping goods through the Red Sea, Reuters reported.

The Shanghai-based news website The Paper reported on Tuesday that following other international shipping companies including Denmark’s Maersk and France’s CMA, Chinese shipping giants like COSCO and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) also suspended transport through the Red Sea.

Ma Xiaolin, dean of the Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean Rim at Zhejiang International Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the trade route via the Red Sea is truly important for China as it connects Europe, Asia and Africa, so China will pay close attention to the situation.

“However, although China has naval vessels in the region, their mission is about anti-piracy, rather than intervening in regional issues and other countries’ internal affairs. Only a solution to the ongoing crisis in Gaza can effectively solve the problem in the Red Sea,” Ma said.

On December 9, Al Jazeera reported that the armed group in Yemen claimed that “it will target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality, and warned all international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.”

“If Gaza does not receive the food and medicines it needs, all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, regardless of their nationality, will become a target for our armed forces,” the group’s spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday, according to Al Jazeera.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the “Houthis are specifically targeting Israel, so it’s unlikely it will attack Chinese vessels. China doesn’t need to be too worried about the situation and the Chinese warships in the region will stick to their plan.”

“China will keep making efforts to realize a sustainable cease-fire and clear the way for humanitarian aid to get into the Gaza Strip. This is the real priority that needs to be done,” Wang Jin, an associate professor at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwest University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

If Washington and its allies want to solve the Red Sea problem, they should play a responsible role in the UN Security Council to pass a cease-fire resolution and to put concrete efforts into improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which would be more effective than sending warships to conduct joint patrols, experts said.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains severe. According to Reuters on Tuesday, Israeli missiles and air strikes on the Rafah area in southern Gaza struck three houses killing at least 20 Palestinians, Gaza health officials said on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have crammed into Rafah on Gaza’s border with Egypt to escape Israeli bombardments.

The lack of unity in the UN that is mainly caused by the US is another key reason why the situation is far from easing. The UN Security Council delayed until Tuesday morning a vote on an Arab-sponsored resolution calling for a halt to hostilities in Gaza to allow for urgently needed aid deliveries to a massive number of civilians as members intensified negotiations to try to avoid another veto by the US, the AP reported.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a routine press conference on Tuesday that “the UN General Assembly has adopted two resolutions with an overwhelming majority. We hope the US will listen to the voice of the international community, stop single-handedly blocking Security Council resolutions, and play its due role to promote an immediate cease-fire and prevent an even larger humanitarian catastrophe.”

December 20, 2023 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

US Escalation in the Red Sea – A Lose/Lose Proposition

By Russell Bentley – Sputnik – 19.12.2023

The latest escalation in world military affairs, the situation in the Red Sea and Yemen, has the real potential to eclipse both the war in Ukraine and the invasion of Gaza, both in terms of military and economic impact, on a global scale.

The hubris and abject idiocy of US plans to open yet another conflict that they cannot hope to win, and that cannot lead to anything but the destruction of the world economy can only be described as criminally insane.

In a recent letter to “Dear America”, the Houthi leaders wrote, “A desperate plea for reflection. The consequences are dire, and the responsibility lies with the guardians of the American dream. Beware, for the path you tread upon carries weighty consequences, reverberating across oceans and continents. Choose wisely…” The choice is between demanding an end to the Gaza humanitarian tragedy or escalating the conflict into a war that will have global consequences. The US has already announced its intention to choose the latter. It is a choice for which the American people, if they allow it to happen, will suffer gravely.

The US and UK have moved at least 24 combat ships into the seas off the coast of Yemen, ostensibly “to protect global shipping lanes”. This is a lie. The Houthis have clearly stated that, one, that they are only targeting ships serving Israeli interests, and that all other shipping is under no threat, and two, that they are willing to cease all military operations against Israeli shipping as soon as Israel stops its attacks on Gaza and the West Bank.

It is ONLY Israeli shipping that is under threat, and it is ONLY Israeli shipping that US and UK naval forces are deployed to protect. But by escalating the situation in the Red Sea, they are putting at risk ALL shipping passing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, which accounts for 12% of all global trade and 30% of all container shipping, as well as about 8% of world trade in both oil and LNG, for a total annual value of over a trillion US dollars.

As things stand now, only Israel-linked shipping is at risk, and even that risk can be completely eliminated by the cessation of Israeli attacks on Gaza and the West Bank. But if the US attacks Yemen, the Houthis will respond, and they do have the capability to sink US Navy ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. And once that happens, the Red Sea becomes an active war zone, and then, all bets are off, along with all shipping in the Red Sea, and 12% of all global trade. Think about it…

US Navy and allies deployment in the Middle East © Russel Bentley

The economies of the EU nations are already in serious decline. The US national debt stands at over $33 TRILLION, and the era of the US dollar’s reserve currency status in global trade is closing fast. A 12% overnight decline in global trade would almost certainly lead these economies into economic depression equivalent to the Great Depression of almost 100 years ago. As I have said many times before, economic war and military war are two sides of the same coin. The Houthis have a major economic advantage based on their geography to influence and even threaten global economic activity, and have proven their ability and willingness to use it. And it is by no means certain that the Western armada assembled along the Yemeni coast can even defeat the Houthis militarily without unacceptable and unsustainable losses.

According to Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Houthis are known to possess two types of larger anti-ship ballistic missiles: The Asef, which has a 450km range, and the Tankil,which has a range of 500km. These missiles can travel at speeds up to Mach 5, and carry warheads of between 300 to 500 kg. (By comparison, Chinese anti-ship missiles with 600 kg warheads have been dubbed “Aircraft Carrier Killers”.) The range of these missiles allows the Houthis to cover not only the southern third of the Red Sea, but all of the Gulf of Aden and much of the Arabian Sea as well. With the exception of the USS Indianapolis and the USCG ships in the Gulf of Oman, all of the US/UK naval ships in the graphic above are already within range of Houthi missiles.

After almost ten years of civil war against the Yemeni government backed by the US and a Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis remain an undefeated and powerful fighting force, still in control of about 20% of Yemen, in the northern and western parts along the Red Sea. Though a recent ceasefire was brokered by China and based on Saudi – Iranian rapprochement, the situation in Yemen remains volatile, exacerbated by Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza and the West Bank. With the US threatened escalation, the global military and economic risks increase by orders of magnitude.

The Houthis demands are clear and precise: Stop the attacks on Palestinians, and the threats to Israeli shipping will cease. Escalate, and the Houthi response will be asymmetrical and world-changing. To any who might scoff at the idea of a rebel army in an impoverished 3rd world country being able to take on the US military, I would simply remind them of the fact that the US has failed to achieve any meaningful victory in any of the wars it has started over the last 30 years.
The choice is clear – either end the Palestinian tragedy, or unleash a global catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. The US government has announced its ill-advised decision to choose the latter option. It is up to all good people in the world, and US citizens in particular, to prevent this global and suicidal miscalculation from taking place, or suffer the consequences.

December 19, 2023 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , | 2 Comments

US pressures Saudi Arabia to postpone imminent peace deal with Yemen

The Cradle | December 18, 2023

The US is exerting pressure on Saudi Arabia to delay the signing of a peace agreement with Yemen and instead join an expanded maritime protection task force to confront Yemeni attacks against Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea.

According to a report by Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, a draft peace deal between Sanaa and Riyadh has been finalized. It could be signed before the end of the year, potentially ending a NATO-backed war that has decimated the Arab world’s poorest country for eight years.

“Saudi Arabia is going through a difficult test between two options […] Either it will emerge from the Yemeni quagmire under a roadmap agreed upon with Sanaa, or it will submit to US dictates and join the international maritime coalition, and this means remaining vulnerable to [western] blackmail,” the Al-Akhbar report details.

Despite the pressure from Washington, the kingdom is reportedly “continuing on the path to peace” and is working to “speed up” the completion of the peace agreements to avoid “further obstruction by the Emiratis or local agents.”

Saudi and Yemeni negotiators have given their final comments on the agreement. The revised version was recently delivered to UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, who has started coordinating an official peace ceremony.

According to Al-Akhbar’s sources in Riyadh and Sanaa, the peace deal includes the complete lifting of a land, sea, and air blockade imposed on Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition, a “consensual mechanism” to pay the salaries of public employees, and the free export of oil from Saudi-controlled regions.

“The ball is in Riyadh’s court, which is under US pressure to delay the signing and enter into a war alliance against Yemen in the Red Sea,” Al-Akhbar highlights, adding that UAE-backed forces are also looking to derail the peace process.

A peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Yemen would significantly hamper US efforts to deploy an international naval task force to the Red Sea to protect Israel’s maritime trade.

“The force, provisionally entitled Operation Prosperity Guardian, is due to be announced by the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, when he visits [West Asia],” UK daily The Guardian reported on 17 December.

The US war chief is set to visit Israel later this week to meet with senior officials. According to the British outlet, western officials believe Washington has secured the involvement of Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, and Bahrain.

For the past several weeks, the Yemeni armed forces have been launching attacks on Israeli-linked commercial vessels attempting to cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait south of the Suez Canal.

In response, five of the world’s largest shipping companies have announced a complete cessation of activities in the vital sea route. These are Hong Kong-based OOCL, France’s CMA CGM, the Danish Maersk, the German Hapag-Lloyd, and the Italian-Swiss-owned Mediterranean Shipping Co.

December 18, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

US Sends Carrier Strike Group to Gulf of Aden Amid Houthi Attacks – Reports

Sputnik – 17.12.2023

The US Department of Defense has recently dispatched a carrier strike group to the Gulf of Aden in response to attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Ansar Allah rebel movement, also known as the Houthis, American press reported, citing anonymous officials.

Earlier in the day, the War Zone website reported, citing an unnamed Pentagon official, that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will announce the launch of an international operation dubbed Prosperity Guardian during his trip to the Middle East next week to protect ships in the Red Sea from the threat posed by the Houthis.

“The Pentagon has in recent days moved the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, to support a potential US response to attacks,” the official told the newspaper.

Another official was quoted as saying that the US military also gave commanders the option to “strike the Houthis.”

On Saturday, the Semafor news portal reported, citing officials from the administration of US President Joe Biden, that the Pentagon was considering the possibility of striking Houthi military targets in response to increased attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

On Friday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Iran should take steps to end the threat to shipping posed by the Houthis in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have earlier said that they would continue to prevent the passage in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea of ships linked to Israeli companies or bound for Israel until Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip ends.

After the armed conflict between Israel and Palestinian movement Hamas resumed on October 7, the Houthis have conducted multiple missile and drone attacks, threatening civilian infrastructure in Israel and commercial shipping operating in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

December 17, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

US warns Ansarallah against attacking Israeli ships

The Cradle | December 15, 2023

The White House has sent back-channel messages to Yemen’s Ansarallah warning them to stop their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and against Israel, Axios reported on 15 December.

US special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, recently visited the Gulf to meet his Saudi, Omani, and Qatari counterparts to discuss the attacks by Ansarallah and convey a message to the Yemeni group. 

The Axios report said that Lenderking emphasized that the “US is highly concerned about Houthi attacks that threaten freedom of navigation in international waters.” 

However, the warnings sent by the US to Ansarallah against the actions that the group is taking in the Red Sea have not done much to deter the solidarity of the Yemeni resistance group with the Palestinian people. 

In a statement from the Yemeni Armed Forces yesterday, spokesman Yahya Sarae said that the Yemeni Armed Forces Navy “carried out a military operation against the container ship Maersk Gibraltar, which was headed to the Israeli entity. It was targeted by a drone, and it was directly hit.” 

“The targeting operation came after the ship’s crew refused to respond to the calls of the Yemeni Naval Forces,” Sarae added.  “The Yemeni Armed Forces have successfully prevented several ships headed to the Israeli entity from passing through in the last 48 hours.”

Sarae affirmed Yemen’s continued efforts to prevent ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the Arabian and Red Seas until necessary food and medicine are allowed to enter the Gaza Strip. 

In response to the attacks and seizures of commercial vessels by Ansarallah, the US envoy for Yemen has told Reuters that the US wants to form the “broadest possible” maritime coalition to protect ships in the Red Sea and send an “important signal” to Yemen that these attacks will not be tolerated. 

“There’s a very, very active assessment going on in Washington about the steps necessary to get the [Ansarallah] to de-escalate,” Lenderking said, while also calling on Ansarallah to release the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a ship seized on 19 November. 

In response to the US Red Sea coalition proposal, Iran’s Defense Minister Mohammed Reza Ashtiani said that Washington and its Gulf allies would face “extraordinary problems.” 

“If they make such an irrational move, they will face extraordinary problems. Nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance,” Ashtiani told Iranian media.

Israel’s National Security Council has ordered ports to hide their shipping schedules in response to Yemen’s attacks against Israeli ships and vessels headed toward Israel.

Yemen’s refusal to allow these Israeli-linked ships to pass the Bab al-Mandab strait has forced companies to change course and take the long route around Africa, further increasing Israel’s war costs. 

December 15, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | 2 Comments

Yemeni forces target two Israeli ships in Red Sea: Spokesman

Spokesman of the Yemeni armed forces Brigadier Yahya Saree
Press TV – December 3, 2023

The Yemeni armed forces have targeted two more Israeli ships in the Red Sea.

They say the battle against the Israeli regime and the United States will continue until attacks on the Gaza Strip come to a full stop.

On Sunday, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman of the Yemeni armed forces, said two Israeli ships named Unity Explorer and Number Nine were targeted in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier in the day.

He said that the first Israeli ship was targeted with a naval missile, and the second ship was struck with a drone after they rejected warnings from the Yemeni navy.

“In support of the Palestinian nation, we’ve disrupted the passage of Zionist enemy ships,” he said.

Saree maintained that the Yemeni armed forces will continue to prevent Israeli ships from passing through the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the attacks “on our brothers in Gaza come to a halt.”

“Today, we are in a decisive fight against the US and the Zionist enemy and we will continue this until attacks on Gaza are stopped,” he said.

Yemeni forces launched missile and drone attacks on targets in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine after the aggression on Gaza began in early October.

On November 19, Ansarullah fighters boarded a commercial ship believed to be ultimately owned by a major Israeli businessman with links to the Tel Aviv regime.

The Yemenis have said that any ship with links to Israel will be a legitimate target if it passes the waters off Yemen’s ports in the Red Sea.

Reports have shown that Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.

Saree told Yemen’s al-Masirah TV that Yemen is also prepared to respond to any retaliatory attack by the US and Israel and their allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The attacks by Yemenis are part of a broader military campaign that targets Israeli and US interests and involves resistance groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The campaign is aimed at forcing the regime to halt its aggression on Gaza and to press Washington to end its support for the aggression.

Iraqi resistance forces have launched dozens of attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria while Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been engaged in almost daily attacks on Israeli bases in northern Palestine over the past two months.

Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza early on Friday after a seven-day truce with Hamas.

More than 15,500 people have been killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza since October 7 when the aggression was launched in response to the killing of 1,200 Israeli settlers and military forces in an operation by Hamas.

December 3, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , | Leave a comment

UAE hosting Israeli president emboldens regime to commit more crimes: Yemen

Press TV – December 1, 2023

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has lashed out at the United Arab Emirates for hosting the Israeli president for the UN climate summit, saying this emboldens the regime to commit even more acts of massacre against the Palestinian people.

In a post on X, Muhammad Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the movement, said conferences should be held to address Israeli atrocities, which he said have polluted “the humanitarian climate.”

“The humanitarian climate is polluted by Israel’s crimes and those who encourage, support, and assist it, and this is what requires conferences to confront, combat, and address it by all possible means.”

The Palestinian movement Hamas also denounced the invitation of Herzog to the conference at a time when the occupation forces were committing massacres in their genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“We earnestly urge the friendly state, the United Arab Emirates, as the host nation, to cancel this invitation, irrespective of the conference’s nature,” the movement said in a statement on Friday.

Instead of providing the “criminal” Herzog with a platform, the conference should have boycotted the regime and held Herzog and other Israeli leaders over the heinous crimes perpetrated against defenseless civilians in Gaza, Hamas said.

Iran has also condemned the UAE’s decision to host Herzog for the conference amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has left over 15,000 dead so far.

On Thursday, Iran’s government said President Ebrahim Raeisi had skipped the conference due to the invitation of the Israeli president to the summit.

On Friday, Iran’s delegation to the meeting, led by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, left the conference and headed back in protest to the participation of Herzog.

“Iran regards the political and biased presence of the fake Zionist regime in the climate change summit, which aims to evaluate the performance of the international community in facing climate change, as contrary to the objectives of this conference, and vacates the conference venue in protest,” Mehrabian said before leaving Dubai.

An Israeli delegation of 28 officials attended this year’s annual United Nations climate summit COP28, which kicked off Thursday.

Israeli media have reported that the purpose of Herzog’s visit to the UAE was to use the “diplomatic space” available in the international climate summit to consolidate Tel Aviv’s position in the war on Gaza and the release of Israeli captives.

Herzog has held meetings with several world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, including with Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

December 2, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli ship changes course in light of ‘Yemeni threat’

The Cradle | November 28, 2023

A container vessel operated by Israeli shipping company Zim changed its course to avoid passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait in fear of attacks from Yemen, the company announced in a statement on 27 November. 

“In light of the threat to the safe transit of global trade in the Arabian and Red Seas, Zim is taking temporary proactive measures to ensure the safety of its crews, vessels, and customers’ cargo by rerouting some of its vessels,” the statement reads. 

“As a result of these measures, longer transit times in the relevant Zim services are anticipated, though every effort is being made to minimize disruptions.” 

According to information from data provider MarineTraffic, the Zim Europe, which was on its way from Boston to Malaysia’s Port Klang, passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea on Friday. 

It continued east before turning in the opposite direction on Saturday and heading back towards the Atlantic Ocean. 

The Zim Europe vessel’s decision to change course comes in the wake of recent Yemeni military operations carried out by Yemen’s Sanaa government in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. 

These operations include numerous drone and missile attacks on Israeli targets, as well as more recent maritime operations carried out by Ansarallah and Yemen’s Armed Forces, targeting Israeli-linked vessels.

Yemeni naval forces intercepted and captured the Israeli-owned Galaxy Leader vessel on 19 November, detaining dozens of crew members who were on board. 

The operation followed official warnings that the Yemeni armed forces would target all Israeli shipping in the Red Sea.

An Israeli-owned ship sailing the Indian Ocean was targeted in a drone attack less than one week later, on 25 November. The spokesman for the Yemeni military, Yahya al-Saree, posted the word Zim on social media that day, suggesting involvement in the attack. 

The post also suggested that one of Zim’s vessels was the target of the operation. Reuters said the targeted ship was identified as a Malta-flagged CMA CGM SYMI, renamed Mayet. 

The ship was said to have been rented by an Israeli-owned shipping firm, Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS). 

Yemeni journalist Ali al-Nassi revealed via social media on 25 November that the Zim company has been involved in arms transfers to Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen. 

Zim is “contracted with the forces of Saudi Arabia and the [Saudi-led] coalition … to transport weapons and ammunition to Yemen.” 

“The last of these shipments arrived at Hadhramaut in February 2022,” he added. 

November 28, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , | Leave a comment

Economic Implications of the Yemeni Seizure of the Galaxy Leader

Sputnik – 21.11.2023

As confirmed by multiple media sources, the ship seized by the Houthis in the Red Sea is the Bahamian flagged Galaxy Leader. According to marinetaffic.com, this ship is designed to carry vehicles, and has a capacity of 1500 passenger cars.

The ship was en route from the Turkish port of Korfez to the Indian port of Pipavav with 25 crew members, including Bulgarians, Filipinos, Mexicans and Ukrainians, but no Israelis on board.

According to Reuters, Netanyahu’s office described the ship as ” British-owned and Japanese-operated”, adding that, “There were no Israelis on the ship,” and “Israel was not involved in its ownership or operation.” However, Yemen’s official news agency, SABA, states that multiple Israeli news media have reported that “The ship controlled by the “Houthis” belongs to the Israeli billionaire Rami Unger, who is close to the Mossad.” Unger is, indeed, a veteran of the Intelligence Corp of the IDF, and has had a decades long close personal and business relationship with Yossi Cohen, the former Director of Mossad, and National Security Advisor to Netanyahu.

In 2019, the personal net worth of Rami Unger and his wife was estimated at $2.1 billion. In 2004, it was reported that Unger owned between 12 and 14 vehicle transport ships, worth about $50 million each, a reasonable estimate of the value of the Galaxy Leader, which was built in 2002. The political and economic impact of this operation goes far beyond the mere value of the ship.

In spite of the estimated $50 million cost/value of the ship, from an economic point of view, it is actually of little worth to the Houthis. They can’t sell it, they can’t use it, Unger and his insurance companies probably won’t ransom it. The ship was sailing without cargo, which if it had been, would have been approximately 1,500 new cars, worth between $20 and $30 million in total. So, clearly, there was no economic benefit from the seizure of the vessel for the Houthis, but the full political and economic ramifications remain to be seen.

It should be understood that the Houthis have not just seized the Galaxy Leader, they have put all Israeli shipping in the Red Sea under threat. The value of that shipping can be roughly estimated by the fact that out of Israel’s $165 billion in total exports in 2022, 24% went to Asian markets. The shortest shipping route from the Mediterranean to Asia is the Suez Canal. Everything that goes through the Suez Canal goes through the Red Sea, and 12% of all global trade passes through the Suez Canal. With these calculations, the economic impact on the Israeli economy by the seizure of this single ship can be estimated in the billions of dollars. The Houthi area of military operations in the southern Red Sea is more than 1,000 miles from Israel, and beyond the reach of timely Israeli military response.

Economic warfare and military warfare are two sides of the same coin. The Houthis, with one helicopter and less than a dozen commandos, have hit the Israeli economy as hard as the entire Israeli military is hitting the people of Gaza. All in all, it must be admitted, it was a successful gambit. Especially considering that it was a bloodless operation in which, unlike the Israeli operation in Gaza, no one was harmed.

Of course, like the October 7th Hamas attack, Netanyahu could very well try to exploit this incident to “justify” another Israeli attack, this time on Iran. War is by nature, always full of dangers and deception. However, the Houthis are likely to find broad and real support for their raid across the Arab and Muslim world.

In an announcement by Yemeni Armed Forces, ” the Armed Forces renewed their warning to all ships belonging to the Israeli enemy or dealing with it that they will become a legitimate target. It called on all countries whose nationals work in the Red Sea to refrain from any work or activity with Israeli ships or ships owned by Israelis.” The statement pointed out that the operations of the armed forces only threaten the ships of Israel and those owned by Israelis, as was previously indicated.

November 21, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , | Leave a comment

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