US/ UK set for military action in Yemen

[Whu]

In light of recent attacks on goods ships by the Iranian backed Houthis,(in solidarity of the people of Gaza), US and UK look set to bomb the Houthi held parts of Yemen.

What is everyone’s thoughts and fears about this?

For me, I wish we would be campaigning for a ceasefire in Gaza rather than this. Also, I think it sets the way for wider war with Iran.

This 100%

People are all to quick to criticise the US but they forget the US are by far the largest financial contributor to NATO. Just imagine the reaction if the US did indeed leave NATO. The US would no doubt be cast as the bad guy there too.

As for the UK, it's probably best that someone accompanies the US in these sort of operations.

Could have upped defence against actual ongoing attacks as they happened? So convoys of ships protected by the navy and obviously shoot any attacking pirates.

I would rather our government be lobbying the Red Cross to visit the Israeli hostages, and pressuring Hamas to release them and surrender. The time for calling for a ceasefire is over, and it's naive bordering on offensive to keep pushing for it. Hamas has broken every ceasefire offered.

The rebels would only have attacked any growing presence of Western navy in those waters though.

And the missile and drone attacks? (Provided by Iran of course)?
Intenational law is being reinforced, backed by plenty of countries who don’t want a bunch of medieval murderers dictating who uses the Red Sea.

They will bomb Yemen to distract from the genocide Israel is carrying out against Palestinians, to distract from the genocide trial against Israel all while they ensure that the genocide still carries on in Palestine. The Uk and US bombing other countries has proved wonders before; they really got it right.

You know who the genicidal ones are, right? Hamas. The sooner the world is without them the better.

Did the West and the Israelis put the Houthis up to their recent antics in the Red Sea too, then?

This can all be traced to a 3000+ year old conflict between the biblical Isaac and Ishmael. From that point, the nations of Jews and Arabs were bitterly divided and been felt globally ever since, whether it's 9/11 or 7/7 or Hamas and Houthis. It's all from the same bitter root.

It's a war of religious ideology with the overall aim of establishing an Islamic caliphate. Everything in the way is viewed as cannon fodder, whether that's the state of Israel or commuters on a London bus. And yes, it's the civilians who always pay the highest price.

Instead of spending billions on other countries wars, can we spend money on the NHS?

Oooof

They're friendly with Iran too. Worth noting that the only big power for whom the events of the last few months have improved their position is Russia. Cui bono...

How exactly have Russia seen improvement in their position in recent months? Please explain.

Houthis haven't killed anyone. US and UK bombing will cause civilian death. You cannot justify that. Ordered by an unelected prime minister with help from an unelected foreign secretary...without consulting with Parliament. Absolutely disgraceful.

But then again, I am not surprised. The US and UK will bomb a country that disrupted shipping and trade which is costing these countries money but WILL NOT bomb and intervene to stop a fucking genocide! They only care about power and money not peace or humanity.

Truly ashamed to be British right now.

The situation in Gaza and now the Red Sea means the West now has more to worry about than they did on 6th October, so there is less focus on Russia's war in Ukraine. The more distracted the West is and the less resources that might be available to support Ukraine, the better Russia's interests are served.

I get what you mean but that doesn't mean Russia have been strengthened indirectly by Gaza. The EU currently unable, and the US unwilling to pass additional funds to Ukraine has nothing to do with Gaza. Besides Russia have by no means made any significant progress in Russia whilst this Gaza thing has taken off.

And if you believe the Iran backed Houthis would back down if there were aid to Gaza (which there should be, via air drop) and get right back in their box, I've got a bridge to sell you

So you might!

But the fact is Houthis were not attacking freighters a few weeks ago were they?

And Gaza needs needs the aid, air drop? that just leads to the strongest getting the most and requires Israel to stop flying as the risk of accident is too high.... the aid needs to be properly distributed.

I'd be 100% behind these strikes if they'd work but they wont, as for the Houthis having fixed silos and ammo dumps? FFS this is a highly mobile "army" able to evade many years of very heavy bombardment by the Saudi's.

Chances are the USA hit nothing but sand.

Yeah, it does. Western distraction from Ukraine is an unequivocally good thing for Russia, particularly if the West actually ends up involved in the ME conflict which hasn't happened thus far.

The Russian state hasn't made any progress internally since October, no, but then that's what happens when you start a war with your neighbour that kills hundreds of thousands of your own people and causes many more of them to leg it abroad.

Nobody said the Houthis were doing this a few weeks ago. Do you think that's an argument that they'd get back in their box now if aid to Gaza were increased and if so, why? Magic time machine back to 6th October 2023 isn't one of our choices.

WRT aid, what's your better option given the current constraints? Transporting it in by lorry means Hamas get it. Presumably you know that won't facilitate proper distribution or the strongest not getting the most. Even if Israel ultimately are successful in eradicating Hamas (not a given), it won't happen today or tomorrow so the issue still needs to be dealt with.

That said, I'm open to arguments about the strategic effectiveness of the strikes.

I suspect a bit of willy waving by Sunak in election year.

Someone asked about a preferred option. My preferred option would be for calling for an immediate cease fire and working on a two state solution. This is a tinder box with huge ramifications for everyone. We also seem to be sending 2.5 billion to Ukraine. Seems like we have a bottomless well to draw on when there's a war involved.

Lovely to see so many Brits vocally giving their support to Hamas and Iran

It’s not ‘either/or’, and it’s foolish and naive to believe otherwise.