Recipe for failure: On the U.S. and Yemen  

Donald Trump came to power with a promise to shut down the wars in Ukraine and West Asia. But in less than two months, Mr. Trump, like most of his predecessors, started bombing another country. This time it is Yemen, one of West Asia’s most impoverished countries. Trump administration officials say the “pre-emptive” strike, targeting the Ansar Allah (better known as the Houthis), was to prevent Shia militants from attacking the shipping lanes of the Red Sea. The targets: Houthi missile launchers and the homes of the movement’s leaders in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, and Sa’dah, the mountainous base of the rebels. “The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships’, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,” said U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, indicating a long-drawn campaign. The Houthis have said that at least 53 people including five children have been killed, and vowed to meet “escalation with escalation”. On Sunday, they launched ballistic and cruise missiles and drones to target aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and other warships in the region, according to Yemen state TV.

The Houthis, who captured Sana’a in 2014, “declared war against Israel” in 2023 in solidarity with the Palestinians, after Israel launched the war on Gaza, following the October 7 Hamas attack. Using missiles and drones, the Houthis have attacked over 100 commercial vessels in the Red Sea. There was a lull in the Houthi attacks after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire came into force on January 19. The U.S.’s latest strike has come as the Houthis were reportedly planning a resumption of attacks on Israeli vessels for violating the ceasefire agreement. But Mr. Trump wants to send a bigger message to the Houthis’ backers — Iran. Earlier this month, he had reached out to Iran to discuss its nuclear programme, an offer Tehran has not taken yet. By launching a massive air strike against the Houthis, one of the strongest members of the Iran-backed resistance network, Mr. Trump is unmistakably telling the Iranians that he is not hesitant to use force. But Mr. Trump is also stepping into a strategic abyss. The Houthis are not just a ragtag militia. They are the state in half of Yemen. They have survived seven years of relentless Saudi bombing. The Biden administration along with its European allies also carried out dozens of strikes, while Israel launched at least four massive strikes. But none of these attacks blunted their fire power. Mr. Trump is repeating the recipe for failure, which could kill more Yemenis and push many more into misery, besides destabilising the region further. It is high time the world started engaging the Houthis to bring peace to the waters around Yemen instead of mindlessly bombing Yemen.