Sputnik
US oil stockpiles are at their 40-year lows and the Houthi Red Sea blockage can make matters much worse for Washington, Maram Susli, better known as blogger Syrian Girl, told Sputnik's New Rules podcast.
Yemen's armed forces stepped up attacks on trade vessels linked to Israel in the Red Sea in a bid to force Tel Aviv into halting its ground operationin the Gaza Strip.
In response, the US brought together a 10-nation coalition against the government in Sana'a led by the Ansarallah movement — dubbed the Houthis by the West. However, the coalition includes only one Arab state, Bahrain, while Yemen's other neighbors have so far hesitated to join the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian. Could they jump on Washington's bandwagon anytime soon?
"It's very interesting to see what the surrounding states will do, because, of course, we have Saudi Arabia trying to defeat the Houthis since 2015, which resulted in a lot of economic suffering and instability from Saudi Arabia," Susli told Sputnik. "And only now have they finally made some kind of a ceasefire or peace treaty with Iran and they both joined BRICS. I don't know if Saudi Arabia is going to be willing to jeopardize that, to stand with the United States in fighting the Houthis in this war, especially because it's going to be perceived in the entire region as Saudi Arabia siding with Israel, because what is happening right now is the Houthis are not attacking the vessels that are not related to Israel."
Observers say the US may resort to attacking Yemen launch sites, as they did previously in 2016. So far the Biden administration has been reluctant to take direct military action against the Houthis, who its claims are backed by Iran. The Yemeni movement issued a stark warning to the US-led naval task force on December 20.
"America's announcement of the establishment of the Coalition of Shame will not prevent us from continuing our military operations… This is a moral and humanitarian position that we will not abandon, no matter the sacrifices it costs us," Ansarallah spokesman Mohammed al-Bukhaiti tweeted on December 19.
"It's interesting to see the United States put itself in harm's way in this way and try to launch a war already, because, you know, it's quite blatant that they're doing this for Israel and not for the United States," Susli said. "And it's going to open up their ranks in Syria and Iraq to even more massive attacks. They're basically sitting ducks in the Middle East right now."
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