Yemen’s Houthi rebels may gain more ‘legitimacy’ with Red Sea attacks • FRANCE 24 English

Yemen’s Houthi rebels may gain more ‘legitimacy’ with Red Sea attacks • FRANCE 24 English

Foreign Affairs commentator Douglas Herbert is with me and Doug look the first thing to say is we don’t have confirmation for the moment that the houthis are behind this latest attack but clearly they are very much the likely actors here and if it is confirmed there’s been a houie strike on

A ship today it would suggest the houthis intend to keep carrying out those acts despite the American and the British strikes inside Yemen absolutely and Nadia what you’ve just said is not speculation it’s not you going out on some editorial limb um it is exactly what the houis have explicitly

Telegraphed they have not in any way shown that they are either intimidated or inclined to cease and assist in what have been yes their missile uh attacks against uh commercial shipping in the Red Sea and even targeting over the weekend um an American Destroyer a missile that was uh shot down um the

Hoties have made it very clear if anything they almost have a little bit more strut in their step that the US and UK jointly launching uh these strikes oper operations against the hooes targeting htis not to wipe out the hooes but as the US and UK see it to degrade

And uh their military capacity and deter them from launching further attacks uh the houis actually this is literally rocket fuel for them um they are in a sense and they’ve been telegraphing this they in a sense for both political reasons ideological reasons geopolitical reasons they almost welcome this fight

Against the the far larger the Goliath if you will of the US and UK pitted against what has been a relatively small Iranian backed Rebel group in Yemen it gives them uh more street cred literally the bragging rights to be the dominant players if not in Yemen because remember

Yemen has an internationally recognized government that’s not the houti government based in the south of the country but these types of skirmishes if you will taking on frontally the US and UK and saying I ain’t even scared keep on Bring it on uh that type of thing

Raises if you will their profile at home gives them perhaps more legitimacy and perhaps perhaps makes people not everyone but some yemenis and others in the international Comm uh Community perceive them as effectively uh the Arbiters of what goes on in Yemen the actual face of the yemenese government

And Doug we are expecting to hear from the UK prime minister Rishi sunak relatively shortly uh this afternoon he’s due to make an address to Parliament on those UK strikes on houie Targets in Yemen what’s your census to what his message is likely to be today

Well his me message is he is literally reporting yes post facto because the uh the UK took part in these strikes already over the weekend uh with the United States and he’s now reporting back to Parliament now yes he’s under scrutiny from Parliament yes there are those in Parliament um who are critical

Of the fact that there wasn’t consultation with all of parliament or a vote but there’s more of the voices in the UK Parliament now especially those in his own conservative faction are more on his side they understand the necessity as they see it in Wartime when

There is a clear and present danger a strategic threat in this case an actual uh danger to commercial shipping to UK US other Western ships in the Red Sea you have to take the threat out first they’re striking at the threat and then you report back to Parliament and then

Perhaps seek a vote from Parliament so surprisingly perhaps he does have backing from large SES of the parliament he’s not going to go uh up against a parliament who is uh up in arms over the fact that he acted without getting that consent first a lot of these Parliament

Parliamentarians will be sympathy itic to the argument that in these types of extraordinary circumstances you sometimes have to militarily strike first and he is as prime minister authorized to do so but Unwritten it is implicit that at some point and today is that point he should go back to

Parliament report on what happened and then perhaps seek a vote and input he says right now the parliament’s going to press him on well what happens next are there going to be further strikes he’s expected to tell them because they’ve already messaged this uh it will depend

On whether or not there further attacks which is interesting in light of what you were just saying that there have been today attacks albeit unclaimed at this hour yet by the houes but perhaps from the houes it will really put Rishi sunak on the spot how will he respond

Continue to strike uh perhaps hold fire for the moment uh but he’s going to make it very clear that if it is a hooti attack uh perhaps Britain it’s incumbent on Britain to up up uphold as he seees it the international rules-based order and to defend National Security

Interests and commercial interest in the Red Sea Douglas Herbert for now thank you very much indeed for your analysis then

Yemen’s Houthi rebels may gain more ‘legitimacy’ with the recent spate of attacks on foreign vessels in the Red Sea, FRANCE 24’s Douglas Herbert said in an analysis Monday. A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck a US-owned ship Monday just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, officials said. Ignoring warnings from the US and other targeted countries, Houthi rebels’ actions may raise the group’s profile in Yemen, where it is currently based.
#Yemen #Houthi rebels #Red Sea

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