By Afshain Afzal

Where there should be unity and consensus amongst all the Muslim countries and their supporters, a general impression was attempted by at least three entities or countries that they are the real dire hard Muslims and would not hesitate in sacrificing their countries for the Palestinian cause. The recent statements and actions by Yemeni Houthis, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian leadership have solved much of the riddle. The timings of the Yemeni action on Friday 19th July 2024 coincided with the Judgment passed by the International Court of Justice. Interestingly, the same day on 19 July 2024, when Yemen's Houthi carried out an early morning missile attack on Israel's capital that killed one person and injured eight others, in the afternoon the International Court of Justice was to announce much awaited verdict on the legality or otherwise of Israel's occupation of Gaza and genocide of Palestinians post 7^th October 2023. A common person of an average IQ can tell if such attacks would have a positive or negative bearing on the International Court’s decision, especially when there was consensus of the international community to recognize Palestine as an independent sovereign state. One wonders that when there are serious clashes on ideology and faith between Hamas on one side and Iranians, Hezbollah and Houthis on the other, what these coercive actions by the Troika would symbolize? Iran, Lebanon and Yemen are important Muslim countries and must act in consultations with other members of Ummah.

The attack by Yemen's Houthi on Israel's capital invited a reaction and put all the Muslim nations politically at defensive mode. Unless and until all Muslims abide the International Law and and contribute for peace in this world, there is no wisdom in projecting themselves as Ummah rather they should be excluded. In the past we saw the Iranian breaking the barriers and visited Saudi Arabia while Saudi Arabia and Yemen after reaching various stages of agreements are at the final stage to ink it. In the development post Israeli attack on Yemen's port, Saudi Arabia took a bold step to remove any misunderstandings and refused to allow Saudi land, sea and space to be used against Yemen or any other nation. The spokesperson of Ministry of Defence of Saudi Arabia, Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki, said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no relation or involvement in targeting Al Hodeidah and the Kingdom will not allow any entity to violate its airspace. This means that Saudi Arabian space was not used in Israel attack of Yemen's port and information provided by the company dealing with imageries is likely to be true.

As per Yemeni media, the strikes targeted oil facilities in the Al Hodeidah port on Yemen’s west coast, killing at least three people and injuring 87, most of them with severe burns. Israeli fighter jets did not fly over 1,000 kilometers to attack Yemen but reportedly used neighbouring Military Base at Djibouti. The Israeli chief spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement, “the aircraft that participated in the attack in Yemen returned safely to Israel moments ago.” Djibouti hosts military bases belonging to Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China at a very little distance from one another. Saudi Arabia was also offered by Djibouti to establish a military base but same could not be completed as yet. However, the Federation of Saudi Chambers signed a contract with the Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority on 4 June 2024 to establish the Saudi Logistics City in Djibouti’s port free zone, which is in progress.

Although, American officials are championing that Tel Aviv conducted the attack on Al Hudaydah independently, without any military the US’ involvement but how can the Washington deny that Israel’s security has been a cornerstone of American foreign policy for every US Administration. Strategic partnership between the United States and Israel include addressing new and complex security threats, bridging Israel’s capability gaps through security assistance and cooperation. In fact, Israel is being used as billboard to sell the American and Israeli military technology and equipment. The US has accepted mission to transform the Israel Defense Forces into one of the world’s most capable, effective militaries to turn Israel's military industry and technology sector into one of the largest exporters of military capabilities worldwide. No doubt, these wars, conflicts and attacks on other nation’s sovereignties are aimed to sell arms, ammunition and high-technology equipment. Did anyone count how much innocent people got killed in this unending business? Israeli Rear Admiral Hagari claimed immediately after the 19^th July attack, “A long-range Iranian-made drone hit the centre of Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday in an attack claimed by the Yemen-based Houthi”. The question arises, did the Iranians attain such levels of missile technology? It is strange, the Israeli-US defence system failed to detect Houthi’s missile on 19 July but after the Israeli counter on Yemen's port on 20 July, the surface-to-surface missiles launched from Yemen on 21 July were intercepted. Why Israel did not react this time and attack Yemen? On the other hand, why instead of attacking these countries claimed to be threats for Israel, unarmed orthodox Palestinian Muslims and Hamas are being targeted to eliminate them from the face of the world?