By Necva Tastan Sevinc
ISTANBUL (AA) - Australia is facing severe criticism for extending air support to the US bombing on Houthis in Yemen.
It comes as Canberra on Friday admitted that its air bases located in the Northern Territory were used for “access and overflight for US aircraft” which bombed Houthis on Thursday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong "promise we're not involved in this (Gaza) war, we don't militarily help Israel. We want a ceasefire etc etc,” recalled journalist Antoinette Lattouf on X.
Criticizing the Albanese administration, Lattouf said the same government was allowing the “use (of) our Northern Territory air base this week for a US airstrike on Yemen to warn Iran."
Similarly, Peter Cronau, a former ABC news journalist, emphasized the lack of transparency surrounding the Australian government's support to the US airstrikes against Houthis.
“Australia has joined the US-Israel war against Yemen’s Houthi — who have been attacking and blockading ships bound for Israel, over its genocide in Gaza. No public information or debate. No government explanation or justification. No parliamentary discussion or approval,” Cronau said on X.
The 15 airstrikes were jointly carried out by the US and UK jets, targeting the capital Sanaa, and Saada province in northern Yemen, the Houthi group-run media outlet reported on Thursday. Al-Masirah TV reported that "US-UK aggressors conducted six raids" across northern and southern Sanaa.
Separately, the broadcaster added that the US and UK air forces conducted nine airstrikes on the Kahlan and al-Abla areas of eastern Saada.
In solidarity with the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, which has been facing a genocidal war by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, the Houthis have targeted Israeli cargo ships or those associated with Tel Aviv in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, expressing determination to continue operations until the end of the onslaught on the enclave.
With the intervention of Washington and London and an escalation of tensions, the Houthis announced that they now consider all American and British ships as military targets.
- 'Complicity to genocide can no longer be denied'
Mocking Australian support to the US airstrikes on Houthis, an X user, Simon Rosenberg (@simon_rosenberg) said: “US tells us to jump. We say ‘How high?’, and reassure them that we'll keep it from the public.”
Another X user Jansant (@Jansant) commented: “Australia is now a US base for the Israel's Middle East war - complicity to genocide can no longer be denied.”
“Rather than preventing genocide as is our obligation under the convention, we're actively disrupting a Yemeni sea blockade intended to end the Gaza genocide,” wrote Jansant, who runs a news and discussion project about Palestine.
Canberra has called air support to the US for bombing Houthis as “consistent with our long-standing alliance commitment and close cooperation, demonstrating the interoperability of our militaries.”
The Albanese government has faced stiff resistance from local communities for supporting Israel amid ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Wong was repeatedly interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists during a speech in Tasmania.
The audiences were asking the Albanese government, which has been accused of hypocrisy over its double standards on Gaza and conflict in Ukraine, to act rather than "just talk."
Wong was in Tasmania to launch the government’s humanitarian policy but audience participants forced her to walk off stage at least 10 times.
"Sanction Israel," one participant asked Wong.
“You’ve had chances at a national and international level to change what is happening in Lebanon, in Palestine … there’s blood on your hands," said another one, addressing Wong.