US should leverage its influence on Israel for a cease-fire before conflict broadens: China Daily editorial

There are growing concerns that the military actions of Israel in the Gaza Strip may trigger a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Three commercial ships in the Red Sea were attacked with missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi military organization on Sunday, while a US warship shot down three drones in self-defense during the hours-long assault.

A spokesperson for the Houthi military explicitly said that their armed forces will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the Red Sea until food and medicine is brought into the Gaza Strip for the Palestinian people there.

Four major shipping companies have already announced that they were suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global trade because of the attacks on shipping.

Meanwhile, two military bases housing US troops in Iraq have been repeatedly attacked by rockets and drones since early October after Israel launched its military operation against Hamas in Gaza.

There is thus the possibility that the US warships will launch an attack against Houthi military targets.

The concerns that the military conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip may spill over and develop into a regional war involving more countries and forces are therefore justified, thus dealing a heavy blow to world peace and global economic recovery.

Even if such a military conflict does not take place right now, the Houthi military organization's continued missile and drone attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea will have an increasingly serious impact on the development of the world economy.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Friday that the Houthis were a "threat to the freedom of navigation of commercial shipping". The United States is working with the international community, with partners from the region and from all over the world to deal with this threat, Sullivan told journalists.

So far the US has responded with limited airstrikes against Houthi targets. But the question is will the US exert its influence on Israel to pressure it to sit at the negotiating table with Hamas?

If there is a military conflict between the US and the Houthi military forces, the situation in the Middle East will become even more complicated, and more countries may possibly get involved, and as a result, a larger scale conflict may erupt in the Middle East. This should be the last thing the world wants to see.

Yet if the US uses its influence to exert pressure on Israel for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and pushes for mediation between Israel and Palestine for a peaceful settlement of the long-lasting conflict between the two sides, the situation in the Middle East will realize a turn in the direction of lasting peace. That is what the majority of countries hope the US will do.