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Australia’s secret war in Yemen … just don’t call it a war

by Michael West | Jan 8, 2025 | Government, Latest Posts

The US is mired in its biggest naval battle since WW2 and Australia is commanding its Red Sea Task Force against the Houthi rebels of Yemen who are trying to stop the genocide in Gaza. Michael West reports.

It is the quintessential case of being dragged into war, by stealth, without the consent of the people. Australia is at war with Yemen, or to be precise the Houthis, but you won’t hear much about it from the government or the media.

Since October, Australia has led the “Combined Task Force (CTF) 153” to combat the Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea. It is not going well. In fact, hostilities are escalating this week. The Houthis repelled an attack by the USS aircraft carrier Harry S Truman and fired another round of missiles into Israel.

With the US navy now mired in their biggest naval battle since the Second World War, overnight US President Elect, Donald Trump, upped the rhetoric:

“If those hostages [in Gaza] aren’t back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East. And it will not be good for Hamas. And it will not be good frankly for anyone. All hell will break out.”

Yet the might of the US military, alongside naval allies from the UK, France, Australia and other nations, have been unable to defeat the impoverished rebel forces of the Houthis firing off drones to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea and landing a few missiles in the heart of Israel 2,000k away.

The problem is that disinformation is rife. The Red Sea operation is mostly a secret. MWM put questions to Defence as to Australia’s involvement in the Red Sea task force but no response was forthcoming. 

In the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s extreme retaliation in Gaza, the Houthis of Yemen declared war on Israel. Their demands are simple. They vowed to attack Israel and any ship connected to Israel until the IDF stopped its genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.

The Suez Canal accounts for 10-15% of world trade. The war has therefore taken a toll on world shipping, and on the allies military resources as it has dragged on for a year.

Amid the failure of the allies to publicise their activities and the propaganda on both sides of the conflict, finding an accurate account of the war is difficult. This is the best we could find, from James Angell on Substack, who goes through a year of claims and incident reports to pull together a comprehensive account of the Red Sea mission.

“US Navy fighter pilots and sailors returning to the US after months of being deployed to shoot down Houthi missiles and drones over the Red Sea have spoken of the trauma of what is now the navy’s most intense sea fighting since World War II. US pilots tell of ‘traumatising’ deployment to stop Red Sea attacks by Houthis,” writes Angell.

USS Harry S Truman

USS Harry S Truman repelled in Yemen attack. Image X

“According to The Associated Press (AP), sailors would see incoming missiles just seconds before being destroyed by ship defence systems. Most on the ships were not used to being attacked, Commander Benjamin Orloff, a Navy pilot, said.

“‘I’ll be honest: It was a little traumatising for the group. It’s something that we don’t think about a lot until you’re presented with it,’ he said. A US aircraft carrier strike group deployed to the Red Sea in mid-October. After months of operations to shoot down missiles and drones, the deployment was twice extended placing additional stress on the crew of roughly 7,000 sailors, the AP reports.”

Australia’s involvement

Amid the sparse disclosures by Australian Defence it was announced in October that Australia would head up the Combined Task Force.

“Air bases in Australia have helped with this week’s United States air strike on underground Houthi weapons stores in Yemen, an attack that has been seen as a warning to Iran,” said the ABC.

“The Department of Defence confirmed Australia provided support for US strikes on October 17, targeting the Houthi facilities ‘through access and overflight for US aircraft in northern Australia’.

And in another story: “Acting Prime Minster Richard Marles announced earlier that the country would send a “significant number” of ADF troops and two RAAF aircraft to the Middle East.” Apart from that, not much information is publicly available.

We can assume the secretive Pine Gap surveillance facilities are being used to help Israel in its brutal Gaza campaign. We can also assume that it is likely that casualties of the war will escalate. Notwithstanding Trump’s bellicose rhetoric about Gaza, the Houthis by all accounts are fiercely determined to escalate against Israel.

Back-channel efforts by the Allies to negotiate with the Houthis have yet failed. The Houthis position has remained steadfast, that Israel has to cease its ‘seige of Gaza’. And amid the IDF’s atrocities against the Palestinians, world opinion is not behind the Allies.

Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, jetted off to meetings in Israel this week, to “mend the factured relationship” with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

This news did not go down well on social media with almost ubiquitous condemnation that an Australian minister would travel to Israel to kowtow to the government of an alleged war criminal whose activities in Gaza had led to world condemnation and a case in the International Court of Justice for plausible genocide.

Meanwhile, reports by US think tanks claim China is funding the Houthis, as well as Iran, as the Houthis are allowing Chinese ships safe passage in the Red Sea. Civilians in Yemen continue to die in aerial bombardments by US and Israel fighter jets, and the Houthis continue to hit Israel with missiles and Red Sea shipping is down as much as 90%.

The Allies’ rhetoric that the Houthis are a primitive rebel group is wearing thin, such is the success of their drone warfare which has endured for more than a year. The Houthis had previously survived a decade long war from the US-backed Saudi regime (with weapons supplied by Australia) and their popularity in Yemen as only grown with their determination to fight Israel.

For Australia, the stakes are rising. If it is the duty under the Genocide Convention of nations to oppose genocide, what is the legal position of countries engaged in war against people trying to uphold the Geneva Convention and stop a genocide?


Questions put to Defence Media last week:

Could you please provide an update on how the Yemen operation is travelling? 

Is Australia still leading the Combined Maritime Force’s Combined Task Force (CTF)? 

How many Australians are deployed, and from what branches of the military?

What is Australia’s legal position/advice in regards of the impact of our military involvement in this operation and the risks associated with the Genocide Convention and proceedings in the ICJ?

Australia defies UN pleas over atrocities in Yemen, escalates weapons exports to Saudis

Michael West headshot

Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.

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