For months, senior US officials have repeatedly said that President Joe Biden does not want Israel's war in the Gaza Strip to spiral into a broader conflict in the Middle East.
That was the central message conveyed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week on his fourth visit to the region since the war began. His trip came in the shadow of Israeli strikes in Lebanon and attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea.
“In the Red Sea we want to avoid an escalation there,” Blinken said Thursday in Cairo, when asked about his efforts to prevent the conflict from escalating.
But just hours later, the United States confirmed that it had collaborated with the United Kingdom to launch “strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels,” in coordination with a handful of other countries.
Experts and human rights advocates warn that the attacks clash with the Biden administration's stated de-escalation goals and do not address the root cause of rising tensions in the region: Israel's military assault on Gaza.
“It's contrary to what the administration has been saying, but it was also inevitable,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director of Middle East policy at the Friends of National Legislation Committee, a Quaker advocacy group in Washington, D.C. .
“Everyone who observed this situation knew that it was a matter of time before the war in Gaza spread throughout the region. And we are seeing it not only in the Red Sea, but also in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Without such a ceasefire in Gaza, it is difficult to see how the situation will improve. And I think the simmering pot is now boiling and will go from bad to worse as time goes on. “It is really a very dangerous moment.”
Red Sea attacks
On Friday, a senior US official told the Reuters news agency that more than 150 munitions had been used to attack nearly 30 locations linked to the Houthi armed group in Yemen.
The Houthis, aligned with Iran, control large swaths of Yemen, including the western coast overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which flows into the Red Sea. The group began firing missiles at Israel and attacking commercial ships shortly after the war in Gaza began in October.
The group has said it is attacking ships linked to Israel as part of an effort to pressure the Israeli government to end its bombing of Gaza and allow more humanitarian aid deliveries to the Palestinian coastal enclave.
The attacks in the Red Sea, a key trade route carrying about 12 percent of global trade, led shipping companies to suspend operations in the area and drew condemnation from the United States and its allies.
In mid-December, Washington launched a multinational force aimed at defending “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea, and at the end of the month, US forces sank three Houthi ships, killing 10 fighters.
During a news conference from Egypt's capital on Thursday, Blinken condemned the Houthis and noted that the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution a day earlier urging the group to end its attacks.
“We have several countries that have made it clear that if it is not stopped, there will have to be consequences and, unfortunately, it has not been stopped. But we want to make sure that is the case and we are prepared to do so,” said the top US diplomat.
Brian Finucane, senior adviser for US programs at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the US was widely expected to launch strikes against the Houthis in Yemen amid escalating clashes in the Red Sea.
But Finucane, who previously worked at the US State Department, advising on the use of military force, told Al Jazeera that the attacks in Yemen show that the Biden administration “has adopted a posture of self-deception and a counterproductive policy.” .
“On the one hand, they repeat like a mantra their desire to avoid a broader regional war. On the other hand, we already have that broader regional war and the underlying cause… is the conflict in Gaza, which the United States is fueling through unconditional military support. [for Israel],” he said.
'Arsonist and firefighter'
Biden, who confirmed the attacks on Thursday, said his administration was sending “a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to jeopardize freedom of navigation on one of the trade routes.” most critical in the world. ”.
“I will not hesitate to order further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary,” the US president said in a statement, which did not mention the Israeli war in Gaza.
Earlier this month, a senior administration official also rejected the Houthis' claim that their attacks in the Red Sea are linked to Gaza, calling that reasoning “illegitimate.”
The war in Gaza has killed more than 23,700 Palestinians since October 7, sparking widespread international outcry and raising questions about the risk of genocide.
According to Finucane, the United States' failure to “recognize reality” – that the Gaza war is at the center of current regional tensions – “will make it very difficult to craft an effective policy.”
And although the United States said its nighttime strikes in Yemen were “intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Houthis,” Finucane questioned whether they would actually stop attacks in the Red Sea.
The Houthis in Yemen have already withstood years of bombing in a war led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The group is currently in talks with Riyadh about a lasting ceasefire.
“I think it's really important to recognize that the United States is simultaneously playing the role of arsonist and firefighter in the Middle East,” Finucane said.
“It is adding fuel to the fire in Gaza while attempting to quell flare-ups elsewhere in the region — flare-ups that endanger American service members.”
Key to the ceasefire in Gaza
Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni-American assistant professor at Michigan State University, said she was disheartened, but not surprised, to see the Biden administration launch attacks on Yemen.
“It's not surprising because we've seen evidence time and time again [that] “American policy in the Middle East, and more specifically in Yemen, has been reactive, directed with violence,” he told Al Jazeera. “Airstrikes seem to be the ideal option for anyone who has been in power [over] the last two decades.”
He added that if the Biden administration really wanted to reduce regional tensions, it would be pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza. “His words don't line up with his actions.”
The Biden administration has provided Israel with military and diplomatic support since the Gaza war began, without drawing “red lines” on how those resources can be used. He also blocked U.N. resolutions calling for a ceasefire and rejected a case before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, also told Al Jazeera in a television interview Thursday that the attacks in Yemen highlight a failure by the United States and the United Kingdom to pressure Israel. end their war in Gaza.
“The question that needs to be asked is: 'Why do the British and American governments prefer to escalate and go to war essentially to stop the Houthis from attacking ships, rather than actually doing so?' [taking] The path to a ceasefire in Gaza?'” he said.
A ceasefire, Parsi explained, would end the killings of Palestinians, help secure the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza and stop attacks on US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, which have also increased since the beginning of October.
“The Biden administration's strategy has been to try to achieve de-escalation through escalation,” he said. “And it clearly doesn't seem to work in the long term, because the Houthis probably won't back down.”
El-Tayyab echoed this statement, telling Al Jazeera that “more war has not and has never been the answer.”
“They should try to end the war in Gaza because there is a massive humanitarian crisis,” he said, pointing to the mass displacement of Palestinians and warnings of famine in Gaza.
“But a ceasefire in Gaza would also have the knock-on effect of actually reducing the escalation and violence in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in Lebanon. [to] protect all the peoples of the region (Arabs and Israelis) and protect American interests abroad.”
El-Tayyab added: “Really, the only way out of this mess is diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy.”
