West Asia is aflame again after a brief period of uneasy calm. Israel has shattered its fragile truce with Hamas by resuming airstrikes on Gaza. Meanwhile, the US is bombing Yemen, the Arab world’s most impoverished nation, purportedly targeting the Houthis. The two conflicts are deeply interconnected and their escalation would have significant consequences for the world. What is truly needed are meaningful negotiations for justice and lasting peace that will ensure people can live normal lives, families are not torn apart or buried in mass graves, and vast amounts of money are not wasted on weapons.
The West has long seen the Houthis, also known as the Ansar Allah, as a dangerous Iranian proxy that overthrew Yemen’s internationally-recognised government, triggering a brutal Saudi-led military intervention a decade ago. The situation shifted after the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, which has since claimed more than 61,000 lives. In this new context, the Shi’ite Houthis are viewed by parts of the wider Muslim world, including some Sunnis, as defenders of the Palestinian cause. Their firing of missiles at Israel and US interests are seen as standing up to the superpower and its closest ally.
The escalating conflict is harmful to all including India. The Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandab Strait are vital for global trade, as it links to the Suez Canal through which 10-15 percent of global trade passes. India has significant interests here, as it relies heavily on energy imports from West Asia. Bilateral trade with the Gulf countries accounts for a sixth of India’s total and the region is home to a large Indian diaspora.
Many other interests converge here, too. The pounding of Yemen started days after Iran spurned a US offer for talks on a new nuclear deal. Israel restarted bombing Gaza a fortnight before its government needs to pass a contested budget through a fractious parliament. Ultimately, the resolution to the region’s many interconnected problems would lie in settling the Israel-Palestine issue. While Hamas’s attacks and terrorist tactics are indefensible, the Israeli carnage in Gaza in contravention of international humanitarian law is also unacceptable. The solution lies in the establishment of a sovereign and viable state of Palestine within secure and recognised borders, living side by side in peace with Israel.