Orientul Mijlociu

Key points

This brief explores the advantages and drawbacks of various U.S. policy responses to attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Ansar Allah—the Shia Islamist group commonly known as the Houthi Movement. The Houthis emerged from the Yemen Civil War as the de facto government in northern Yemen and now control roughly 70 percent of the country’s population. The group was considered a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. government until it was delisted in 2021 over humanitarian concerns about the impact of the designation.1

Five military advisers serving for the IRGC mission in Syria were martyred along with several Syrian forces in an Israeli attack on a three-story residential building in the Mezza neighbourhood of Damascus.

Iran condemned in the strongest terms the killing of five military advisers of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in an Israeli attack on Syria, saying it reserves the right to respond to the “organized terrorism” of the Israeli government.

News – Middle East: The Zionist media confirmed that the port of Umm Al-Rashrash, “Eilat,” is completely closed due to the blockade imposed by Yemen on Zionist ships in the Red Sea.

The Zionist website “Passport News” quoted the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port of Eilat as saying: “The port is effectively closed, with no traffic movement, due to attacks by Yemen on ships in the Red Sea. It is very saddening to see the port standing still, with no exports or imports.”

In December 2023, the Houthis Ansar Allah movement, Iran’s proxy in Yemen, escalated its attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb. The Houthis have been attacking commercial vessels that they claim are connected to Israel or are bound for that country, with the stated aim of aiding the Gazans in the war with Israel, which broke out following Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7, 2023.[1] The attacks have caused many shipping companies to opt for alternative routes, which lengthens the voyage and increases the cost of shipping.

Hezbollah issued the following statement:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
“Say, ‘Do you wait for us except one of the two good things?’ And we are waiting for you lest Allah afflict you with a punishment from Him.” Or by Our hand, so wait. Indeed, we are with you, waiting.) God the Most High, the Great,
has spoken the truth.

Since 2011, conflict between the government of Syrian President Bashar al Asad and opposition forces seeking his removal has displaced roughly half of the country’s population and killed over half a million people. Five countries operate in or maintain military forces in Syria: Russia, Turkey (Türkiye), Iran, Israel, and the United States.

On New Year’s Eve, US Navy helicopters in the Red Sea engaged and sank three boats belonging to Yemen’s Houthis, killing ten. According to US Central Command, the boats were attacking a container ship and fired on the helicopters as they responded to the ship’s distress call. The encounter represents a significant escalation that risks forcing a whole new war on the American public and the Middle East.

If Hamas were about to be destroyed, Nasrallah might feel that Hezbollah could be the next target, and move to launch a full-scale pre-emptive attack on Israel.

In his much-trumpeted speech on November 3, Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, predictably praised Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel, the subsequent massacre of 1,200 people and the abduction of some 240 hostages. He was at pains to emphasize, however, that it had been a purely Palestinian enterprise.