27 December 2023

WARSHIPS IN THE RED SEA: Signs that the Israeli War in Gaza Risks Expanding into a Wider Conflict De-Stabilizing The Middle East

US strikes on targets in Iraq and fresh attacks by Houthi militants on shipping in the Red Sea provided the latest warning signs that the war in Gaza risks expanding into a wider conflict destabilizing the Middle East. 
Published: 1:49pm, 27 Dec, 2023

“Clearly, the longer the Israeli-Hamas war goes on with this sort of kinetic intensity, the more likely there would be some escalation,” said Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former US official who has advised secretaries of state on the Middle East.
  • The number of non-state groups, as well as the unpredictability of both Israeli military operations and Iran’s potential responses, makes it difficult to forecast when specific incidents might flare up into a broader escalation.
But Miller said the US would probably be forced to act more assertively if a regional group kills US service members.
 
“If we’re attacked directly and Americans die, then there’s going to have to be a much, much heavier response,” he said.
  • US military says it shot down 12 Houthi attack drones and five missiles fired by Houthi rebels over Red Sea
  • Since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have targeted commercial vessels

The attacks, and other developments around the region, highlight an increasingly difficult balancing act for the Biden administration, which is trying to support Israel in its battle against the militant group Hamas, which killed 1,200 Israelis on October 7 and took more than 200 hostages. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union.

The US has deployed aircraft carrier strike groups in an effort to deter Iran-backed forces in the region from striking Israel as it pursues an increasingly deadly ground war in densely populated urban areas in Gaza.

  • But US officials also have put pressure on Israel to wind down its high-intensity operations in Gaza, which have killed nearly 21,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
  • Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer met Tuesday in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
  • The discussions, according to a White House official, involved the war itself, efforts to release the hostages in Gaza, limiting civilian casualties and planning a future for the region.

The conversation regarding the conflict centered on Israeli forces shifting their focus to the main Hamas targets, the official said.
  • Separately, US President Joe Biden spoke with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, on efforts to gain the release of hostages being held in Gaza and to bolster humanitarian assistance to the territory, the White House said on Tuesday evening.
For Israeli officials worried about Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon and other groups in the region, the current conflict already looks like the wider war the US says it’s trying to prevent.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in the Knesset that Israel was in the midst of a “multi-front war”, having already been attacked from seven different arenas – Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, Iraq, Yemen and Iran.

“We have already taken action against six of these seven, and I will say now in the clearest manner possible, that anyone who takes action against us will become a potential target,” he told the foreign affairs and defense committee. “There will be no immunity for anyone.”

(Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters)

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Houthi Attacks and US Strikes Heighten Risk of Wider Middle East War -  Bloomberg
Uploaded: Dec 26, 2023
US strikes on targets in Iraq and fresh attacks by Houthi militants on shipping in the Red Sea provided the latest warning signs that the war in Gaza risks expanding into a wider conflict ...

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US announces 10-nation coalition to secure Red Sea shipping against Houthi  attacks • FRANCE 24 - YouTube
Uploaded: Dec 19, 2023
16.4K Views
The United States on Monday announced a 10-nation coalition to quell the Houthi missile and drone attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea, with Britain, France, Bahrain and Italy among countries ...
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