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The Observer view on Yemen: airstrikes may have begun an unwinnable war | Observer editorial

By their military intervention, Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden have started something they may not be able to finish

There are, broadly, three ways of looking at last week’s US and British military strikes on Houthi bases in Yemen: necessary, futile, dangerous. Yet, however the world views this action, taken in response to repeated, unprovoked attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, the possible consequences are all the more alarming because they are unknowable and unpredictable. Joe Biden, the US president, and Rishi Sunak have started something they may find difficult to finish.

The US-British bombardment of dozens of targets, Succeeded by a limited “follow-on” attack a day later, was necessary in the sense that the Houthi leaders had rejected numerous pleas, public and private, to end their Red Sea mayhem. Ships and crews were at risk. There was real fear that anti-ship missiles could hit an oil tanker, causing an environmental disaster. The global economy faced supply disruption and spiking oil prices.

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