Just southeast of the ongoing Israel-Hamas Conflict, another conflict is brewing in Yemen. The Houthis, a group of Shiite Muslims that have been declared a terrorist group by the United States, have been launching drone and missile strikes against commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea and down the Strait of Bab al-Mandab in response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza, as the Houthis have pledged their support to Hamas and have attacked ships going down the Strait and into the Suez Canal to prevent them from delivering to Israel.

In response, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have sent warships to patrol the Red Sea in order to combat the Houthi’s attacks and protect the commercial vessels. In addition to warships, the United States and the United Kingdom have sent barrages of missiles at the Houthis, in response to numerous warnings that they sent to the Houthis to cease their attacks on the commercial ships, a warning which the Houthis didn’t listen to, as on January 10th 2024, they sent their largest barrage of anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and attack drones at a group of international commercial ships.

Although no damage was reported due to the missiles being shot down by the US and UK navies, the event still led to the UN Security Council to, on a vote of 11-0 with 4 abstentions, demand the Houthis halt their attacks and, according to the Associated Press, implicitly condemn the Houthis main weapons supplier, Iran.

On January 12th, the US and Britain held a retaliatory strike on the Houthis, striking 60 targets including munitions depots, air defense radar systems, and C&C Nodes. According to the Associated Press, President Joe Biden said the strikes were supposed to show that the US and its allies won’t tolerate the Houthi’s attacks on the Red Sea. And on February 3rd, the US and UK held a second retaliatory strike on the Houthis in response to the preparation of a cruise missile in Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. And on February 14th, Russia and China accused the US and Britain for attacking the Houthis’ missile launch sites illegally, stating that the UN Security Council never authorized an attack.

This conflict has shown that it’s clearly going to escalate further, and whether or not the United States is willing to escalate its attacks further is unknown but likely, especially as the future of the Israel-Palestine Conflict is just as uncertain.