Earlier this year in February, Yemen Houthi rebels continued their assault in the Red Sea, launching a missile attack that damaged a Belize-flagged ship going through the Bab El-Mandeb Strait. The crew was forced to evacuate with no reported casualties. This attack comes in response to United States (U.S.) airstrikes, which intended to stop the rebels from their ongoing violence and disruption to trade. However, the situation has continued to escalate, and U.S. airstrikes have only encouraged the Houthis to increase their attacks.

Backed by Iran, the Houthi rebels arose from Yemen, declaring that they are anti-West and anti-Israel right from their emergence. It was to no one’s surprise that after the Hamas attack on October 7 that the Houthis would support Hamas in the war in Gaza. The Houthis began to attack cargo ships and vessels assumed to be Israeli ships, but the ships have not been affiliated with Israel at all. Trade is severely being disrupted by these Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, cutting off important trade routes to Asia and Europe.

The Houthi rebels have claimed this attack on the Belize ship, continuing their pattern of consistently claiming responsibility for attacks to demonstrate their armed capacity. According to the Associated Press, the ship was identified as the Rubymar, which the Houthis and the U.S. Military Central Command also confirmed. The fact that the Houthis are taking responsibility and later providing information that would otherwise not have been given out willingly conveys the message that the Houthis are not afraid of retaliation, which ultimately demonstrates that the rebels are not stopping anytime soon and are confident in their defense and size of their army. Furthermore, according to U.S. News, the U.S. Military’s Central Command have stated that “[the U.S.] carried out five airstrikes targeting Houthi military equipment.” It can be argued that the Houthis are retaliating against external threats and responding with more violence than it is being dealt. The Houthis are trying to indicate that no number of assaults will make them back down from supporting Hamas against the war in Gaza.

Fighting fire with fire should be condemned and does not constitute effective conflict prevention or conflict mitigation. Therefore, the United States approaching this conflict with airstrikes only worsens the situation, even if the U.S. believed attacks on the Houthi rebels would deter Houthis from conducting more attacks in the Red Sea. The war on Gaza has been increasingly damaging to the current humanitarian and global crisis. As allies of both Israel and Hamas increase their support, violence seems to be unending. Violence will do little to alleviate the current circumstances of the war because attacks with the intent to subdue the rebels have caused more harm than intended. For as long as the war in Gaza continues, the Houthi rebels will continue to wreak havoc and destruction in the Red Sea to voice their support for the Hamas. Fighting fire with fire will not solve anything in the short and long term, it will only extend the period of war.