September 16, 2024 | 2:50 PM
READING TIME: 2 minutes
Attacking ships in transit to the Suez Canal to strike not international trade but Egypt: Cairo is in fact trying to position itself as a mediator country to end the conflict in the Middle East. Something that the Muslim militias, led by Iran, do not want. This is the opinion of several experts in geopolitics and military strategy, interviewed by Adnkronos, who examine what appears to be a third war front for Israel after the launch of a missile by the Houthis towards the Jewish state. The Houthis “after October 7 have focused their forces on two fronts: attacking Israel but, above all, the ships in the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb (between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea, ed.), making it difficult for merchant ships to reach the Suez Canal and reducing revenues from naval transit”, observes Gianandrea Gaiani, expert in military strategies and director of Analisi Difesa. “The Houthis have long been Israel’s third front after Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon: from Yemen they have attempted to strike the Jewish state with mixed success. Even yesterday, with that missile deflected but not destroyed by the Iron Dome.”
For Professor Arduino Paniccia, a professor of strategic studies and president of Asce, the school of international economic competition in Venice, “from the beginning, the feeling is that the Houthis’ real objective is to hit the Suez Canal traffic to put pressure on Egypt and thus push it to abandon its attempt to act as a mediator in the conflict in the Middle East”. Towards the Yemeni militia “there is an almost impunity feeling: the Anglo-American and European coalitions should have attacked more harshly. The perception is that, for the armed militia, the costs to pay are less heavy than the possible responses. It leaves me perplexed – continues Paniccia – how a group that is blocking international maritime traffic remains almost unpunished”.
According to the expert, “a more military analysis would advise Israel against facing distant and dangerous enemies like the Houthis, who have proven to be more resilient than expected”. The strategists behind the Houthi attacks, according to Paniccia, are Iranian: “By sending Hamas and the other militias to the slaughter, after having supported them for some time, Tehran is taking everything back with interest”. Also because, he concludes, “the West is leaving too much space to actors south of Europe and outside the perimeter of NATO like Iran”.
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