Why in news?
On 19th July 2024, an unprecedented Houthi Drone hit the Israeli capital Tel Aviv. In retaliation, Israel launched Operation Outstretched Arm and struck back to attack the Houthi territory of Al Hudaydah Port inside Yemen, leading to a cycle of violence in West Asia. This is the first time that Israel launched a direct attack on Yemen destroying its 2nd largest port.
Background
The Houthis is a group of Islamic extremists, which is declared as a global terrorist outfit, whose main goal is to run all of Yemen with a radical Islamist ideology, which is evident in their charter that says “Bring death to Israel, USA and many other foreign countries.”
The 3 allies, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis of Yemen, also known as the ‘Axis of Resistance’ against Israel and its western friends, are known to be backed and funded by Iran, Israel’s greatest enemy. Their alliance have been evident since Hamas launched the attack on Israel last year (known as the October 7th attack) , The Houthis have been actively attacking any ship they think is related to Israel in the Red sea, making it an HRA (High Risk Area), and Hezbollah launching rockets into Israeli territories from Lebanon (Northern neighbor of Israel).
Effect on the World
With Russia Ukraine conflict already going on, the Israel Hamas war is an added stress on the global trade, esp. because it has a direct impact on one of the busiest trade routes in the world, i.e., Suez Canal, from where 12% of global trade passes and is used by 30% of all global shipping container traffic. Direct inclusion of Yemen into the war further worsened the situation.
On the security front, red sea has become an High Risk Area (HRA) due to which cargo ships have to take the longer route encircling the Cape of Good Hope, a trade route which has been infested with pirates, specifically, Somalian pirates. Consequently, increasing the shipping times and inflating the prices of all the goods, globally.
Effect on India
Any safety threat in the Arabian Sea has a direct impact on India’s security. In reaction, India launched operation Sankalp in January 2024 to secure the region of houthi missile attacks, pirate attacks and to help provide safe passage to all cargo ships with the help of destroyers like INS Kolkata, INS Mormugao, INS Kochi and INS Chennai along with multi-role Frigets like INS Talwar and INS Tarkash.
The Gulf of Aden not only is a choke point for physical connectivity with the Europe, it is also a digital choke point as most submarine fiber optic and communication cables which are laid on the sea floor. Any attack on them may pose a digital threat and a subsequent physical impairment to the Indian economy. IMEC (India Middle East Europe Corridor) was launched not only to provide physical connectivity, but also as an alternate digital connectivity route with Middle East and Europe.
CONCLUSION
It can be said that Israel is fighting a 6-front war in the Middle East, i.e., the Hamas, The Hezbollah, The Houthis, and also is in a direct conflict with the State of Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Being at a geographically significant location connecting Europe and Asia, an unstable West Asian geopolitics may soon spill over its effect to the rest of the world on various fronts and a direct conflict with Yemen acts as one of the many cogs in a wheel.
Authored By,
Ms. Kushika Madan
Researcher at The Geojuristoday
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