President Donald Trump's order for airstrikes on Yemen's Houthis sets the stage for a renewed program to establish the Abraham Accords with the Arab countries and sends a message to Russia, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax.
"First, before the attack, [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio reached out to the Russians and said Hey, we're doing this," Shaffer said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend" Sunday. "The Russians were notified, and this was to demonstrate that we are going to go back on the offensive and do those things necessary."
Meanwhile, the strikes also reestablished the dominance for the Southern Pacific, said Shaffer.
"Believe it or not, I know we're linking something that's completely geographically detached. The Chinese now have to understand that as they do things to help the Iranians, to help the other proxies that we face … there could be potential consequences."
The Biden administration, however, "did nothing to deter anybody in any form," he added. "This was meant to do all those three things in one event."
Meanwhile, Hamas and the Houthis announced mutual support on Saturday, but Shaffer said that neither side has anything left.
"All Hamas has left is propaganda, and even that is starting to fail by the fact that they've got a handful of hostages left," said Shaffer. "What I think is going to happen is the Israelis and the United States, with our Arab allies, and this expanded or reformed Abraham Accord, are going to start looking at how we can do two things regarding the terrorists."
First, he said that Hamas must be eliminated.
"There's not going to be a phase two of the [peace] agreement," said Shaffer. "I think once we're confident we've got as many live hostages out as we can, there's going to be returned to military operations."
Egypt will also benefit from the strikes on the Houthis, Shaffer said.
"They've been losing about $300 million to $600 million a year from the lack of traffic going through [the Red Sea]," said Shaffer. "We want to get them back involved regarding the issues regarding Gaza and the Palestinians, because they are there and they can help us bring a lasting peace, enduring peace to that by helping us settle the Gaza Strip and start rebuilding it."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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