Iran supplies the Houthis of Yemen, a Shite subgroup, with arms to fight the Sunni regime in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis continue to bomb Yemeni targets. In support of Saudi Arabia, the US and allies attempt to interrupt the flow of Iranian arms.
An event earlier this year was typical. According to the Navy statement, the US warships Sirocco and Gravely seized a small boat carrying 1,500 AK-47 rifles, 200 rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, and 21 .50-caliber machine guns. Small Gulf crafts called dhows transport most of the shipments, and there is no way to monitor all such vessels in the Gulf.
The news of the ongoing war surfaces only rarely in popular news. After all, it is only the Yemenis who are suffering, and the world has already lost interest and given up on them. They have no oil for us.
The only possible risk for us from the Yemenis is the damage they might inflict on shipping at the Bab Al-Mandeb, where vessels enter the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden. And the US Navy can handle that with little difficulty.
Never mind that the Yemenis are the only ones suffering in this proxy war. Never mind that the country we think of as just another desert is not all desert, but rather some of the most beautiful land on earth.
Never mind that the real wealth of the country, the people who want for their children the same things we want for our children, is not considered.
After all, this stuff is happening only in the Middle East. Do you think we should care?
