Mohammed Isa Al Abbasi 
“Geography is the most important factor in foreign policy, because it is the most permanent factor.” In these phrases, the American Nicholas Sbekan, a professor of international relations and one of the founders of the classic realistic school in American foreign policy, identified in his famous book “Geography of Peace”, the pivotal role of geography in the global decision -making. Where his research concluded that understanding geography and its importance greatly helps to understand the dynamics that affect stability and peace in a world that is filled with risks and crises.
And the American attack on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist militia in Yemen, to deter the destructive force of the militia, can only be understood through the American administration’s endeavor to move geography to build stability and establish peace, by setting new regional engagement bases in the Middle East, mainly aimed at pruning Iran’s regional nails, and clearing maritime lines in the Bab al -Mandab straight from the control of terrorist organizations and groups NGOs, Iranian Houthi militia, which directly threatened international navigation and related logistical operations for decades, in an impact on international trade and global economy. According to the data of the US Energy Information Administration for the year 2023, Bab al -Mandab is an important suffocation point for oil and natural gas, as it represents 12% of the oil -transported oil trade, and 8% of the LNG trade (LNG) in the first half of 2023. The average oil trade flows through the Bab al -Mandab strait decreased to 4 million barrels per day until August 2024, compared to 8.7 million barrels per day In the entire 2023. Where global transportation companies preferred to take longer and more expensive roads around the outskirts of Africa, as the period of maritime transport moved from the Strait of Hormuz to the Amsterdam-Rutterdam-Antwerp in Europe across the Red Sea from 19 days to 34 days via the Raja Al-Saleh Road in South Africa.
In general, there are eight global crossings of great importance in international navigation lines and their security, directly affecting the global economy and the stability of international financial markets, or the so -called political geography of strategic suffocation points. Half of these eight global crossings are spread outside the Middle East: one crossing in both Europe (the Strait of Gibraltar), Africa (Ras Al -Saleh Righteousness), East Asia (Strait Malaga), and Americas (Panama Channel). The other half of these vital crossings is concentrated in a relatively small region, where southwestern Asia meets in Europe and Africa: the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey, the Suez Canal in Egypt, the Bab al -Mandab Strait in the Red Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. This region is also the most important source of energy needed to sustain global economic growth. From the point of view of geopolitical and economic analysis, these marine crossings are considered one of the most sensitive points in passing oil and liquefied gas from production centers to consumption sites.
The Bab al -Mandab Strait represents a strategic geopolitical point of great military, vital and economic importance for various international axes and regional powers. By crossing about 25,000 naval pieces annually, at a rate of 75 pieces per day, the strait is a vital corridor for global trade, especially with regard to the transportation of oil and gas. Military, the strait is a vital control point for the major naval forces, as it can control navigation paths and prevent potential threats. This interferes with regional conflicts and threats to stability, as various forces seek to enhance their influence and ensure the security of supply lines. This is in the presence of more than 19 rulers in the strait, which increased the complexity of geopolitical dynamics in the region. The Strait is considered the focus of international trade, as it affects the movement of basic commodities between continents. Any navigation disorders may lead to negative effects on food security and energy of the recipient countries, highlighting the need for this corridor stability. Economically, the dense movement of marine parts through the strait contributes to strengthening local and regional economies. The Bab Al -Mandab Strait embodies a vital intersection of military, vital, and economic dimensions, making it a major axis of global geopolitical dynamics.
The American military operation, according to press reports, began to launch attacks from the American aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea. The F/A-18 Super Horent aircraft for air coverage and the actual attack task, accompanied by bombs directed to cover all electronic warfare tasks and confusion. Consequently, this process is a practical embodiment of the strategy of “Joac Operation Operation (Joac)” set by the American military leadership, with the aim of ensuring the ability to enter the American forces any location or theater of conflict, whether on the ground, in the air, in the space, the sea, or in the field of the Internet, and ensure the continuity of its presence in it in the face of the strategy of “preventing access/preventing the entry of the region (A2/AD)” which Iran and its tools are trying to implement in the Bab al -Mandab strait for decades. This military strategy can be defined as a group of overlapping capabilities through multiple fields, such as air, land, sea, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, cyber wars and space, with a single goal that imposes the maximum extent of attrition on the ability of the war fighting for Americans and their allies in the Red Sea. Consequently, through their recent attack, the American forces have put the practical framework to develop a holistic vision to confront the challenges that may result from the threats of preventing access and the Iranian forbidden regions (A2/AD), which Iran was through the Revolutionary Guards and its regional tools trying to expand its field to the Strait of Gibraltar, or through Iranian spy ships stationed in the strait, as “Bahdha” and “Saviz”, which were They spy and collect data for the Houthis by transferring information, coordinates and tracking operations for commercial ships to carry out piracy operations, targeting and disrupting navigation in the strait.
In practice, the awaited Ansar Allah group will not exceed the red lines drawn within the framework of the traditional regional engagement rules that are compatible with all parties. Houthi in Yemen does not have the national sovereign decision to move his arsenal from ballistic missiles and strategic marches to target Israeli depth or American bases in the Gulf except with the approval of the Central Operations Room of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran. The operational support from the rest of Iran in the region is almost impossible, especially since the Iranian position in the Middle East has lived its most difficult days since the Iran-Iraqi war in the eighties of the last century, with the fall of the Syrian Baathist regime, the defeat of Hamas military in the Gaza Strip, and the neutralization of Hassan Nasrallah and the full military leadership of Hezbollah. Therefore, the escalation of the military position in the Strait of Bab al -Mandab, which constitutes the side of international navigation, is a situation that most effective regional forces are agreed upon. And the transformation of the Red Sea into one of the theaters of the confrontation between Iran, America and Israel is a matter that worries the biggest loser in the matter, the Arab Republic of Egypt, which the Suez Canal incurs a billion losses of disruption, obstruction and decrease in commercial navigation in the channel.
On the dark side of the story, there is an ethical aspect that requires the movement of the international community. The Houthi militia, directly and under the supervision of Abdul -Malik al -Houthi, is committed in the areas under its control of severe human rights violations, in the form of field executions without trial, kidnappings, piracy operations, and forced detention of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis outside any monitoring of the international system of human rights. Whereas, the Yemeni human rights team, during the meeting held at the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on the sidelines of the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, stressed that Yemeni civil society organizations monitored and documented about 238 children who were recruited after the agreements signed by the Houthi militia with the United Nations in 2018. The Yemeni human rights team confirmed that what the Houthi militias are doing from mine cultivation and booby -trapped devices in a way Games that are difficult to get to know, and in the shapes of stones and camouflage formations to be most of their children. It is certain that the brotherly Yemeni people, who are suffering from these dangerous practices, is the real victim in this crisis, by kidnapping the Yemeni state and putting its capabilities in the service of the regional project of the jurist’s regime, and turning the authentic Yemeni people into a hostage in the hands of a terrorist militia without moral or humanitarianism, its presence in one of the most important global geopolitical seam lines is a threat to regional and global security.
The US military operation against Houthi is part of a comprehensive approach to terrorism in the Middle East. The deterrence of the Houthi militia requires the development of comprehensive and multi -dimensional strategies, the leadership of a comprehensive vision that guarantees security and peace for all the peoples of the region, and building a sustainable regional security framework. Regional security in the Strait of Bab al -Mandab cannot be achieved through military measures alone, but rather needs to integrate various political, economic and social efforts. It starts to provide humanitarian and economic support to the brotherly Yemeni people as a basic step towards promoting stability in Yemen under the leadership of the internationally recognized legitimate government, which controls about 60% of the geographical area of Yemen.
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