Massive fires and smoke covered the skies in Al-Hudaydah seaport, west Yemen, after Israeli occupation fighter jets struck fuel tanks at the Houthi-controlled port in response to the Iranian-backed militia’s drone attack on Tel Aviv.
The raids on July 20 came one day after the Houthis claimed responsibility of the Tel Aviv strike, with occupation authorities alledging that the Houthis fired more than 200 missiles and drones towards Israel, most of which were intercepted without any casualties. However, the last drone attack has reportedly killed one settler and injured others.
The attacks worsened the humanitarian crisis in Yemen even further that the Houthis have been exacerbating through carrying out terrorist attacks on oil facilities and obstructing maritime trade in the Red Sea, which prompted the Yemeni government to condemn the occupation and its violation of Yemeni sovereignty.
The Yemeni government also demanded the Houthis to cease terrorist activities, which are causing significant harm to the c
ountry and its people while also calling on them to listen to the voice of reason.
This escalation comes as an extension to the months-long indiscriminate Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden; obstructing one of the most vital and active maritime passageways in the world.
One of the measures to combat these terrorist activities was for the US and UK to lead a military operation by a multinational coalition under the name “Operation Prosperity Guardian”.
However, the US and the UK diverged in their operations and expanded by targeting Houthi-controlled military sites on Yemeni lands only to incite further escalations with the Houthis.
Maged Al-Madhaji, the Chairperson of Sana’a Center for Strategy Studies, said is his remarks KUNA that the Israeli occupation’s response by publicly engaging Yemeni territory will lead to a new level of escalations in the Red Sea.
Al-Madhaji stressed that “this is the first Israeli bombing and clashing in the Arabian Peninsula and the furthest their fighte
rs ever reached and engaged in this region” as he explained that the next stage could be bleaker.
He affirmed that the escalation seriously damaged any chance of “peace in Yemen.” The chance that existed when the UN drew a reformative roadmap in December brokered by Saudi Arabia and Oman, meant peace in Yemen, until the tension in the Red Sea escalated to the point of no return.
The course of events in the coming days will be pivotal and will determine the fate of Yemen, as the geopolitically-sensitive Red Sea will either witness a de-escalation or inextinguishable fires for years to come.
Source: Kuwait News Agency