Why Yemen’s Houthi rebels welcome conflict with the US
CNNJan 23
Houthis Claim Fresh Attacks on Red Sea Shipping
The Facts
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have said that they fired naval missiles at two commercial vessels, a Marshall Islands-flagged ship mistakenly referred to as American and a Barbados-flagged British ship, in the Red Sea on Tuesday.
The latest attacks in the group's months-long campaign against ships linked with Israel, as well as American and British warships patrolling the area — purportedly to protest the war in Gaza — took place west of the port of Hodeidah in Yemen.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
While the Houthis may say that their reasons for targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea are motivated by a self-sacrificing desire to end the Israel-Hamas war, the truth is that this aggression is an opportunistic power-grab meant to improve their own international and domestic standing, as well as distract from the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The group has banked on Western aversion to conflict, but retaliatory strikes are a powerful way of deterring these attacks from happening again.
Establishment-critical narrative
It should have become clear by now that strikes will not sway the Houthis from their pro-Palestinian stance, nor will they stop the attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. In fact, military escalation can only make the situation worse, as the Houthis stand steadfast in their support of Gaza and will continue these attacks as acts of solidarity. Given that restoring stability in the Red Sea depends entirely on Israel halting its offensive on the enclave, Washington and London must push for a cease-fire in Gaza instead of fueling tensions in the Middle East.
Nerd narrative
There's a 13% chance that the US and Iran will be primary actors on opposite sides of war before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.