Since the outbreak of the new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, although the United States has sided with Israel, it has not directly ended the situation, and has even advised Israel not to be carried away by anger, with the aim of not wanting to escalate the situation to the point where it cannot be controlled. However, in the face of the hijacking of ships in the Red Sea and the Houthis, the United States did not restrain itself and directly launched an attack.
Recently, the Danish, Singapore-flagged container ship "Maersk Hangzhou" sent a distress signal for the second time in one day, reporting that it had been attacked by four "Houthi boats". The U.S. Central Command also confirmed that the Houthis tried to board the Maersk vessel, which was sailing south of the Red Sea, and issued a warning to Houthis to stay away from the vessel.
Seeing that the Houthis did not intend to withdraw, helicopters from the US warships "Eisenhower" and "Greave" flew to the Maersk ship and first shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired at the Maersk ship. Three more Houthi boats were then sunk and 10 militants killed, leaving only one boat to escape.
【The attacked merchant ship "Maersk Hangzhou"】
After the incident, the incident quickly attracted widespread attention, because this was the first time since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that the US military exchanged fire with the Houthis and killed their personnel. Until then, the United States has always taken the attitude that it does not want a direct exchange of fire with the Houthis to avoid further escalation. And now that the U.S. military is directly out of the field, the meaning is not the same.
As we all know, the main reason why the Houthis want to intercept ships passing through the Red Sea is to support the rights of the Palestinian people and force Israel to make concessions and stop the persecution of the people of Gaza. And the Houthis have made it very clear that they are targeting only Israel and the ships heading for it, and that other ships that are sailing normally will not be affected.
However, due to the fear of being mistakenly attacked by the Houthis, many shipping companies still choose to detour to the Cape of Good Hope, which undoubtedly increases the delivery time and freight costs. The Suez Canal, at the northern end of the Red Sea, is considered a superhighway for containers, relying on it for about 14% of the world's maritime freight and 30% of oil transportation, as well as large quantities of grain transportation from Europe.
In an effort to put pressure on the Houthis, the United States united 10 countries to form a Red Sea escort alliance, but senior Houthi officials in Yemen immediately said that attacks on ships sailing in the Red Sea would not stop. It is worth mentioning that in the so-called escort alliance of the United States, no Middle Eastern countries are included, which also shows from the side that most Middle Eastern countries are still on the side of the Houthis.
[The US aircraft carrier "Ford" is about to withdraw from the Eastern Mediterranean]
So on the surface, the United States is indeed tough, but in fact, it has really put itself in more trouble. Immediately after the incident, Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdul-Salam met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abdollahian. After that, Iran's warship "Alborz" appeared in the Red Sea, apparently to support the Houthis.
At the same time, the United States began to feel frightened and began to find a step for itself. John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said that the United States is only seeking self-defense, and has no intention of further expanding the conflict, and will not actively seek to clash with the Houthis in the future. Or out of a show of sincerity, U.S. officials also revealed that in the next few years, the USS Ford aircraft carrier strike group deployed in the central Mediterranean will withdraw from the area and return to its home port of Norfolk Military Port.
It is not difficult to see from these kinds of actions that the United States is also doing its best to cool down the situation, but according to the consistent style of the Houthis, there is no such thing as breaking teeth and swallowing in the stomach. Even if the U.S. military kills only one member of the Houthis, the Houthis will not spare it, not to mention that now that 10 have been killed at once, future retaliation is actually already on the agenda. But the trouble now is that Iranian warships are also present in the waters of the Red Sea, and if the United States and Iran get into trouble, the conflict situation will be even more uncontrollable.
[Iranian President Raisi]
Most importantly, given the historical experience of the US wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, a long war of attrition is a huge burden for any country. The U.S. military's action, breaking with the tradition of proxy warfare in the past, seems inevitable that it will intervene directly in the conflict, and with it a series of complex military and diplomatic issues. This not only poses a threat to the national security of the United States itself, but may also change the regional and even global strategic balance and trigger unpredictable international changes.
In addition, Arab countries have long felt sustained pressure from Israel and the United States, and have long held deep grievances against both countries, and have been looking for opportunities to fight back. Now that the US army has killed 10 Houthi fighters, it will only bring the Arab countries closer together. At present, the United States has been contained in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the Palestinian-Israeli situation, and is facing multiple difficulties. If the Houthis decide to go head-to-head with the United States, will the United States be able to withstand the tremendous pressure of fighting on three fronts simultaneously?
Similarly, if the United States wants to calm things down, its only option is to pressure Israel to make concessions. It is worth mentioning that shortly after the US operation, the Israeli military decided to withdraw thousands of troops from Gaza in preparation for reducing the military intensity, most likely for this reason, and this also exposed the essence of the American "paper tiger". The only variable now is that it depends on whether the Houthis eat or not, after all, the United States is the one who fired the first shot, and it is reasonable to be retaliated, and morally, the Houthis have already won.