The Yemen- grounded Houthis movement has joined the Israel- Hamas war, extending the conflict to the far side of the Middle East.
In firing dumdums on Israel, it has joined other Iran- backed militant groups including Hezbollah, which has been swapping fire with Israeli forces across the Lebanon border.
While not the officially recognized government of Yemen, the Houthi movement controls a significant portion of the country and its involvement goes against the West’s sweats to help the fighting from spreading.
Where is Yemen? The Middle East nation lies at the southernmost point of the Arabian Peninsula and shares a border with Saudi Arabia to its north and Oman to its east.
Its bank is on the southern end of the Red Sea( the Suez Canal is at the northern end) and represents a strategic choke point for world shipping and, crucially, Saudi oil painting.
Has Yemen declared war on Israel? The Houthi movement, which controls Yemen’s west, says it launched ballistic and voyage dumdums on southern Israel on Wednesday( AEDT).
The Israel Defence Forces said it interdicted at least one bullet forming from near the Red Sea, along with other “ upstanding pitfalls ”.
Houthi military prophet Yahya Saree said it was before two earlier incidents, a drone attack on October 18 and three voyage dumdums interdicted by the US Navy on October 19.
Yemen’s Houthi movement, not Yemen itself, has effectively declared war against Israel. Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by the Saudi and US governments, has been in a civil war with the Houthis since 2014, however much of the violence has settled during the once time amid reverse- channel peace addresses between the Houthis and the Saudis.
Why is Yemen involved in the conflict? Like other militant groups getting involved in the Israel- Hamas conflict, the Houthis are backed by Iran and are part of its “ Axis of Resistance ”.
Saree said Israel was to condemn for the region’s conflict and that the Houthis would continue their involvement “ until the Israeli aggression stops ”.
Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Centre said the many Houthi attacks were, for now, “ further about messaging than a real military trouble ”. “ The threat to Israel would be if there’s an each- out engagement, with multiple rocket launches from all directions which could overwhelm the air defences, ” he said.
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah( sympathizers of God), developed in the 1990s out of dissatisfaction with Yemeni government alignment with Saudi Arabia and the US.
It has deposited itself as ananti-imperialist group against foreign intervention and as a force for profitable development for Yemeni people.
It was subject to apprehensions in the early 2000s amid enterprises over its growing influence and responded with mutinies that embarrassed the Yemeni and Saudi colors.
The group is embedded in Zaydism, a side of Shiite Islam that accounts for about 25 per cent of Yemen’s population; the rest of the country is predominately Sunni.
