Nearly a month after being the target of Houthi missile attacks, the Greek MV Sounion, an oil tanker, was finally moved to a safe region of the Red Sea Monday night.
This comes after weeks of failed attempts and public outcry against both the assault on a commercial tanker itself and its potential for an oil spill, exacerbated by an on-board fire, the sheer volume of oil aboard the tanker ‒ nearly a million barrels of crude oil, and the wide-reaching impacts if such an event were to take place ‒ multiple times greater than the contamination that occurred as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
But the attack on the Sounion was not the first ‒ and doesn’t look to be the last ‒ of Houthi missile attacks and bombings in recent days.
In addition to the nearly 70 ships and carriers targeted by the rebels (all prior to mid-July), the Houthi rebels have also carried out multiple attacks against Israel, including drone strikes in Tel Aviv in July and more recently, the launch of a supposedly hypersonic missile against central Israel just this Sunday.
This barrage of attacks raises the question: who are the Houthis, and what do they want?
The Houthi rebels are a pro-Iran, Yemen-based group that rose to power in 2014, when they incited a rebellion against Yemen’s government at the time, ultimately leading to the abdication of that government. This subsequently led to the start of a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, exacerbated by the conflict between Saudi Arabia, backed by the United Arab Emirates, and the Houthis, supported by Iran, that kicked off less than a year after the civil war and ousting of Yemen’s old government.
The recent actions taken by these rebels, however, break from their history of conflict with Saudi Arabia and instead serve a different, but still relevant, purpose: showing support for Hamas and pushing Israel to end the war against Gaza ‒ and by extension, Palestine.
Especially as Zaydi Shiite Muslims, a highly specific minority branch of Islam, the Houthi rebels’ movement is deeply rooted in their religion, something that has shaped all their actions over the course of history, including the civil war that brought them to power, their conflict with Saudi Arabia, and now, their actions against Israel.
Considering the religious roots of the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine and specifically those of Hamas itself, it comes as no surprise that the Houthi rebels sided with Hamas, especially given Iran’s backing of the terrorist organization.
As the Israel-Hamas war approaches the end of its first year, the actions of the Houthi rebels add one more factor into the mix, further dividing the globe with Hamas and the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, on one side, and Israel, supported staunchly by the United States (among other countries), on the other.
As countries across the globe grow increasingly divided when it comes to recent conflicts, like this war and the one between Russia and Ukraine, tensions rise tenfold and fears of a world war grow progressively more prevalent.
Yet, it’s in times like these that it is important to remember our humanity and acknowledge both sides of the story ‒ of every story. While it may seem to us that only one side, one group, one person can be right at a time, oftentimes, there are more nuances and facets than those that we are willing to acknowledge. And learning to accept the gray areas of our shared history and working to shed light on them is exactly what will save us in the end, by mitigating divisiveness and setting the stage for compromise… and peace.
