Sana, Yemen – A coalition of Western nations “expanded” the ongoing conflict in the Middle East on Thursday by bombing 12+ military targets in Yemen. The airstrikes—conducted by the US and five of its allies—have since sparke accusations that the West is motivated by a desire to protect Israel from the consequences of its Gazan “genocide.”

On Thursday evening, a series of US-led airstrikes rocked over a dozen targets in Yemen, spanning several major cities including the capital Sanaa, the western port city of Hodeidah, the Houthi stronghold of Saada, and the southwestern city of Dhamar. The strikes reportedly devastated military infrastructure and drone warfare sites believed to be used in attacks against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea.

“American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital Sanaa, Hodeidah governorate, Saada, and Dhamar,” said Abdul Qader al-Mortada, a spokesman for the Houthi government on X, formerly Twitter.

According to reports, the strikes have officially killed five Yemeni troops, and injured six others. The Western attack against Yemen now poses a risk of escalating the wider Middle Eastern conflict, a possibility that leaders like President Joe Biden hoped to avoid.

Despite these risks, President Biden appeared to justify the strikes. In a statement on Thursday, the White House said that they intended to send a “clear message” that America and its “partners” would no longer tolerate attacks on commercial shipping routes.

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes,” Biden said.

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” he continued. “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

Additionally, Biden confirmed the UK’s participation and expressed gratitude for the support provided by other Western nations including Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, and their allies in Bahrain.

Meanwhile, in a televised speech on Thursday, Houthi leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi promised a “big” response if the US, Israel, and its allies continue.

“Any American attack will not remain without a response. The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with 20 drones and a number of missiles,” he said. “We are more determined to target ships linked to Israel, and we will not back down from that.”

Since November 19th, Yemen’s rightful Houthi government—which heroically thwarted a coalition of Western proxies for control of the nation in 2015—has claimed responsibility for a total of 26 raids against Western military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis have stated that their military operations aim to put pressure on Israel, whose unrepentant airstrikes on civilian areas in Gaza have so far culminated in the deaths of over 23,000 Palestinians at the time of press.

Yemen’s latest and largest raid reportedly saw the use of over 21 missiles and drones fired at Israeli-linked ships near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern bottleneck of the Red Sea. Since attacks against Western shipping began, rates for key global routes have soared, with the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index soaring 2,206 points Friday. These “maritime incidents” have caused multiple international shipping companies to completely suspend traffic in the area.

It is currently unknown if the US-led bombing of Yemeni facilities will deter future attacks, or strengthen Houthi resolve. If drawn into a prolonged ground war, the United States may find itself struggling. According to a recent report by Military.com, the U.S. Army is facing a sharp decline in White recruits, a demographic traditionally understood as the prime warfighting stock for many of America’s Zionist conflicts of yesteryear.

Meanwhile, online commentators have been quick to attack the West for pushing the envelope in the region, which has already suffered from multiple escalations since Hamas’ October 7th military operation. On Telegram, White civil rights activist Mike Peinovich said the strikes were conducted merely to protect Israel from the consequences of its ongoing “genocide” of Gaza.

“(Our Zionist Occupied Government) bombed Yemen tonight in order to protect Israel from consequences of the Gaza genocide,” he said in a post to his official Telegram page. “It remains to be seen if this will spiral into a wider war. I doubt the Yemenis will be deterred by these strikes, so I assume there will be further escalation.”

“The never-ending refrain from the Jewish press that America is ‘trying to calm tensions’ in the Middle East is bulls–t. The way to calm tensions would be to actually put the brakes on arms and money to Israel, which America will never do. The rest is just theater,” he continued in another.

Peinovich’s linking of the United States and Israel would prove to be a fair analysis. In an interview featured in the Jewish News Syndicate, retired IDF Major General Yitzhak Brick said all of the IDF’s “missiles, ammunition, and precision-guided bombs” came directly from the American government, and by extension, the American taxpayer.

“All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes, and bombs, it’s all from the US,” he said in the November interview. “The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability…Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

Yemen has often been the conventional whipping boy for Western assets hoping to disrupt outspoken enemies of Israel. In January 2022, a Yemeni detention center was ruthlessly bombed by what was believed to be a Saudi-led coalition of American proxies, killing sixty people.

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