Not only Israel: a new country is in the sights of the Houthis
The #Houthis in #Yemen are escalating and now they are threatening to attack not only ships "serving" #Israel but also ships serving the #Emirates.

And why is that?
Since according to the Houthis, the Emirates and other countries are helping Israel to "break the blockade" through a "land bridge".

This is what Muhammad Al Bakhiti (picture), a member of the political council of the Houthis, said today: "Since we prevent the passage of ships from the Red Sea belonging to companies that finance the Zionist entity... a new phase is coming in which we will prevent the United Arab Emirates and anyone who opens a bridge to it. I advised Israel to go through (Egyptian) Bab al-Mandab, because there is no difference between them and these naval companies that finance the entity and lift the blockade on it."

UAE offers the USA to fight Houthis from Somaliland
Arab diplomats reported that the United Arab Emirates proposed to the United States to use the #Somaliland region to deal with the campaign against the #Houthis in the Red Sea instead of American aircraft carriers, which require huge budgets and a large number of personnel.

According to the report, Tahnun bin Zayed, the national security adviser and head of the UAE's foreign intelligence service, met with Jake Sullivan and other American officials in early June, when bin Zayed visited Washington. The proposal comes following the refusal of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council to allow American and Western military bases in the Gulf countries to carry out attacks on the Houthis. US officials have opened a channel of communication with Somaliland officials overseen by Abu Dhabi, as the emirate seeks to strengthen its influence in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region, and join the United States to defend the Red Sea against attacks by the Houthis and Somali pirates. Observers say such moves would anger the government in #Mogadishu and other countries in the region.

The U.S. and its allies have weighed striking Yemen’s Houthi militants after telling them to either halt their attacks on ships in the Red Sea or face unspecified action

If diplomacy fails, the US and its allies will have to carefully “choose options that are clearly defensible” and which target the Houthis’ ability to continue disrupting Red Sea navigation while “avoiding getting involved in a regional conflict,” says Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Targeted Strikes
🔶️ These would be focused on eliminating or degrading the Houthis’ ability to fire ballistic missiles at ships and shipping lanes by striking launch sites, radars, missile warehouses and other supporting infrastructure and logistics. Since mid-November, the Houthis have fired more than 100 drones and ballistic missiles in two dozen separate attacks, according to the Pentagon. More than 15 vessels have been targeted.

Major Offensive
🔶️ Most Yemeni factions that have been fighting the Houthis since they captured the capital Sanaa nearly a decade ago, alongside some regional backers such as the United Arab Emirates, favor strong retaliation. That includes re-designating the Houthis as terrorists, targeting their finances and launching broader military action if necessary. Some say ousting the Houthis from the port city of Al-Hudaydah is the only way to restore calm to the Red Sea.

🔶️ Many blame the Houthis’ coastal presence on the pressure exerted by the US and other Western powers on anti-Houthi forces, as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to halt a major offensive in 2018 to recapture Al-Hudaydah on humanitarian grounds.