Houthis just don't have means to do that. Iran is friendly with both them and Oman. Oman doesn't have a history of declaring war or threats over something, so they proclaimed their ultimate neutrality - and blocked access to it's airspace.

Yemen has already been bombed back into the stone ages, infrastructure wise. More airstrikes will not break them.

Official Yemen wasn't bombed. What was is a territory held by the Houthy junta. It's not better or worse than an official dictator. It's just incorrect to miss that distinction.

And I don't think they would be capable of anything military-wise after these strikes.

They just don't have any serious backing even from other islamic states, so I don't know why they even acted out for western allies can simply erase everything they have without any backfiring.

I feel like it's other states who ordered their leaders to act, while these leaders are completely safe.

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No Fly Zone means active warfare. You cannot just declare a No Fly Zone like "stay out". A No Fly Zone is literally a commitment to shoot down any enemy aircraft in the airspace. If Oman actually does this, they are in the war.

As for the point about Yemen already being bombed back to the stone age, the OP wasn't talking about the minor strikes that the US and UK just launched, they are referring to the last near-decades-long assault Yemen has endured from both Saudi Arabia and the US.

[–] Drewfro66@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The "No Fly Zone is a declaration of war" truism only works when you're declaring one over another nation's sovereign territory. Oman has every right to determine what military aircraft can enter their airspace, and if another country's military violates that airspace, they will have declared war, not Oman.

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 10 months ago

When they shoot down an American bomber, the distinction won't matter much