Smart Take | US and UK Strike Houthi Rebels in Yemen

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• Transcript

  On Tuesday, January 9th, the latest attack on shipping in the Red Sea involved 20 drones and missiles. And this was the turning point that that broke the camel's back, as they say, and forced the US to try to signal in some military way that the warning, the diplomatic warning that had been issued by several nations, was going to be enforced.

  The Houthis have long sought to counter American and Israeli influence in the region. They've condemned the American presence. They are opposed to Israel's existence. They originally said they were targeting shipping because of the war between Israel and Hamas.

  The Houthis are part of the so-called axis of resistance organized by Iran. That includes Hamas, Hezbollah and some of the militias in Iraq

  Iran has created a number of allies in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen. There are nascent cells in other parts of the region. And in many ways, those proxies, those surrogates, those allies are the greater front line danger to the United States and its allies, including Israel.

  There are a lot of different players to what we’re seeing happen today But the real danger is that this what we're seeing play out in January 2024 brings together a lot of different militias, armies, a lot of different flashpoints, political issues together into one big ball.

  And that's what the United States has tried through diplomacy to prevent.