Israeli and US aggression against Yemen is escalating. And Canada is participating in this effort to insulate Israel from pressure to stop killing Palestinians.
In recent days Israel has launched multiple strikes on Yemen’s electricity, port and other infrastructure. On Thursday they bombed the Sana’a airport in a strike that nearly killed the director general of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Israel destroyed the air traffic control facility and killed a few people at the airport. The UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Julien Harneis, criticized the strikes, saying the airport “is a civilian location that is used by the United Nations.”
For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli TV “we are just getting started with them [Ansarallah/Houthis]”. On Monday Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon repeated that government’s threat to assassinate Ansarallah’s leaders, as they’ve done with Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel’s strikes are purportedly a response to ballistic missiles fired from Yemen.
The US and UK have also bombed Yemen. They hit Sana’a on Friday and over the past year those two countries have dropped hundreds of bombs on various targets in Yemen.
On Saturday Yemen released images of its forces blowing up a $30 million MQ-9 US Reaper drone and two days earlier Yemen’s Defense Ministry said one of its drones forced the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to retreat. Ansarallah also recently claimed to have downed a US F/A-18 over the Red Sea. For its part, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its fighter jet was downed by “friendly fire.” Another friendly fire incident nearly destroyed a second US Navy fighter jet over the Red Sea.
As per usual when the US and Israel kill, Canada assists. In defence of Israel’s right to slaughter Palestinians without restraint, Ottawa listed Ansarallah as a terrorist organization three weeks ago. “Since November 2023,” noted the release effectively banning Canadians from assisting Yemen’s government, “Ansarallah has contributed to unrest in the Middle East through numerous attacks targeting civilian and naval vessels on the Red Sea and other waterways, as well as those against Israel.”
In solidarity with the Palestinian people being brutalized, the Houthis began seizing tanker ships connected to Israel traveling through the Red Sea. When they launched their solidarity actions Ansarallah announced they’d stop if Israel’s “crimes in Gaza stop.”
To deter Ansarallah’s attacks in the Red Sea, Canada joined the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian. Alongside Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Netherlands and New Zealand, Canada has formally assisted the US/UK bombing that began a year ago. In response to the first wave of strikes in mid-January foreign minister Mélanie Joly and defence minister Bill Blair noted: “Canadian Armed Forces personnel deployed with US Central Command supported the precisely targeted strikes undertaken yesterday by the armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom, as did Australia, Bahrain and the Netherlands, against Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.” The next month they released a similar statement defending US-UK violence following another round of bombings.
At least some Canadian troops are coordinating US-UK strikes. In January three Canadian officers were formally added to the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian. Other Canadians soldiers – deployed at Canada’s base in Kuwait and US bases nearby – are also likely assisting. Through NORAD hundreds of Canadian soldiers assist the US with monitoring West Asia.
The Canadian navy has also assisted US forces in the region. Through Operation ARTEMIS hundreds of Canadian personnel have been contributing to the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), a United States-led naval coalition of 44 member nations to monitor the region. From January 17 to July 22 Canada led the multinational Combined Task Force 150 expedition patrolling the “Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman.” HMCS Montreal also transited through the Red Sea in the Spring.
With Ansarallah seeking to stop the holocaust in Gaza, assisting attacks against Yemen is yet another way of Canada abetting Israeli violence against Palestinians.
Yves Engler’s latest book is Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy.
