US, UK attack on Yemen sparks anger on social media

The American-British attack on Yemen in support of Israel has sparked anger on social media, with users stressing that the Yemeni acts to stop genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are legal under international law.

The US and Britain launched airstrikes on several provinces across Yemen, including the capital Sana’a and Hudaydah, in the early hours of Friday in response to the Yemeni strikes on vessels linked to the Israeli regime, which has waged a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October.

‘Terrorists hit Yemen’

The attack drew wide condemnations from senior figures on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, with the US and Britain being seen as “terrorists” for launching new aggression in another part of West Asia.

“The terrorists have hit Yemen because Gaza alone wasn’t already enough,” said Jackson Hinkle, an American political commentator.

“All states have a duty under international law to act to stop genocide. Yemen did so by blocking shipping to the offending regime. The US is now bombing them for daring to interfere with the US-supported genocide in Gaza. There is your ‘rules-based order’,” Craig Mokhiber, an international human rights lawyer said, in reference to one of the Biden administration’s terms.

Mokhiber was the director of the New York office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. He stepped down in October over the organization’s response to the war in Gaza.

‘Total bankruptcy’

Ussama Makdisi, an American professor of History at Rice University in the US, saw the US-UK attack as a desperate attempt by the West to support “colonial Zionism and racism”.

“The total bankruptcy of Western governments is on display in bombing Yemen, while Israel carries out genocide in Gaza.  The Yemeni position is clear: they support Palestinian freedom; the US (UK) position is equally clear: they support colonial Zionism and racism,” Makdisi said.

Richard Medhurst, an independent British journalist, stressed that the US should have stopped the war on Gaza, if it was really seeking to protect shipping in the Red Sea.

“Yemen fulfilled their duty under Art. 1 of the Genocide Convention to prevent and punish Israel for its genocide. If you don’t like Yemen firing at commercial ships, then you shouldn’t fire 2000lb bombs at Palestinians,” Medhurst said.

American journalist Dan Cohen also slammed the US stance on the conflict, saying “Israel has been shooting fishing boats from Gaza every day for almost 20 years to destroy its fishing industry and keep it economically de-developed. Now that the Houthis are giving Israel a taste of its own medicine, the US invokes “freedom of navigation” to attack Yemen.”

The US aggression was also decried by American politicians, with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib saying the Americans are “tired of endless war”.

Biden “is violating Article I of the Constitution by carrying out airstrikes in Yemen without congressional approval. The American people are tired of endless war.”

‘Big mistake’

Gregoryd Johnsen, the associate director of the Institute for Future Conflict, downplayed the impact of the US-UK aggression, pointing out that “The Houthis have demonstrated over 20 years of fighting that they can absorb a significant amount of pain, regroup, and hit back.”

Sharmine Narwani, a Beirut-based writer, analyst, and columnist, even expected a strong retaliatory attack against US and UK vessels in waterways near Yemen.

“I honestly question whether the US or UK have carefully considered Yemen’s potential responses to this act of war.”

“Ansarallah is an unusual member of the region’s Axis of Resistance. It marches to its own tune and its mindset is entirely devoid of western narrative grooming. There is no guessing at the full spectrum of its retaliatory palette, but I would not want to be an American or Brit in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, or any of the neighboring waterways right now.”

The attack was also seen as a big mistake that could spark a regional war.

“US made a big mistake bombing Yemen. If you think the new war in Yemen is going to be restricted to Yemen, think again. It’s now open season for US and British military bases in the region,” Haz Al-Din said.

“The Yemenis are fearless and have nothing to lose. They will easily set the entire region on fire. Do not underestimate their strike capacity far outside Yemen either, or their deeply embedded alliances with other groups.”

“Everyone knows that the major regional war will break out this year. It looks like it might now be entering the point of no return.”

Haz Al-Din hailed Yemenis as “defenders of justice, soldiers of righteousness and keepers of honor”, noting that “All the noble among mankind are with Yemen”, which waged “a war for no other reason than the defense of human dignity, without any profit motive whatsoever.”

“History will remember heroic Yemen, who did what the other Arab leaders were too corrupt and cowardly to do, for all eternity.”

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 23,469 Palestinians and injured nearly 60,000 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.

In solidarity with the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Yemeni armed forces have targeted ships in the Red Sea with owners linked to Israel or those going to and from ports in the occupied territories.

The US has formed a multinational military coalition against Yemeni forces in the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes.