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Saudi Arabia ready to back US air strikes on Houthi rebels
Antony Blinken’s efforts to prevent the Gaza war spilling across the Middle East are being complicated by Yemeni militia’s attacks on shipping
A Yemeni child holds a knife next to a portrait of the Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi during a Gaza solidarity march this month
MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Saudi Arabia is among a number of Middle Eastern countries telling the West they back strikes against the Houthis in Yemen whose attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have diminished commercial traffic in the vital waterway.
Any action against the rebels in Yemen would coincide with attempts by the United States to prevent the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas spreading to the rest of the region. The Palestinian group’s allies in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq have targeted Israel as well as US bases in the area and shipping in the Red Sea.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, is visiting the region this week in the hope of containing the war. The simmering conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is
