‘No military or political logic’ to US attacks on Houthis
Nabeel Khoury, a former US diplomat, says Trump’s decision to launch attacks against the Houthis is misguided, and will not subdue them.
“For our president who came in wanting to avoid war and wanting to be a man of peace, he’s going about it the wrong way. There are many paths that can be used before you resort to war,” Khoury told Al Jazeera.
The danger to shipping in the Red Sea is “a justifiable reason for concern”, the former diplomat said, but added that it is a problem that could be resolved through diplomacy.
The Houthis, who have been “bombed severely all over their territory” in the past, are not likely to be subdued through “a few weeks of bombing”, Khoury said.
“If you think that Hamas, living and fighting on a very small piece of land, totally surrounded by land, air and sea, and yet, 17 months of bombardment by the Israelis did not get rid of them. The Houthis lived in a much more rugged space, mountainous regions – it would be virtually impossible to eradicate them,” he said.
“So there is no military logic to what’s happening, and there is no political logic either.”
More US raids on Yemen
Yemen’s Al Masirah TV is reporting renewed Israeli raids on the country’s capital, Sanaa, as well as the city of Saada.
The Houthi-affiliated channel says the strike on Saada targeted a key power station there, causing a power outage.
Death toll from US attacks on Yemen rises
The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV is reporting that the deaths from the US attacks on Yemen’s Saada have risen from six to 10. The channel reported that at least 13 others were also wounded.
As we reported earlier, the victims included four children and one woman. Another 13 people were also killed in the capital, Sanaa.
The latest figures take the overall toll from US attacks to 23.
Houthis promise to retaliate
Earlier, we brought you a statement from Houthi spokesman, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, who accused the US of overstating the threat to shipping operations in order to influence public opinion.
The group’s political bureau has also issued a separate statement.
The statement “condemned the treacherous US aggression on the capital, Sanaa” and called the targeting of residential neighbourhoods and civilians “a full-fledged war crime”.
It said the attacks came “in response to Yemen’s stance of solidarity with the Palestinian people”, and promised that the US’s “aggression against the country will not deter Yemen from continuing its support for Palestine and fulfilling its obligations towards Gaza”.
The statement added that “the aggression will not go unanswered, and the Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation”.
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