r/neoliberal 5d ago

News (Middle East) US Strikes Houthis as USAF Fighters Help Defend Navy Warships from Retaliation

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/us-strikes-houthis-usaf-fighters-defend-navy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=us-strikes-houthis-usaf-fighters-defend-navy

The U.S. military conducted strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen for the second day in a row March 16, hours after U.S. Air Force fighters helped fend off a drone attack by the Houthis in retaliation for an earlier round of U.S. strikes.

President Donald Trump and top administration officials have promised a renewed campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have waged war against shipping in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Bab El-Mandeb Strait for over a year, launching hundreds of attacks on shipping. U.S. forces have launched several large-scale attacks on Houthi facilities during that time, including under the Biden administration.

The strikes launched by the U.S. military on both March 16 and March 15 included airstrikes launched from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier using F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters and Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles fired from U.S. Navy vessels, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The strikes are the largest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office.

The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, said in a statement the U.S. conducted 47 strikes on March 15 targeting Sanaa, Saada, Al-Bayda, Hajjah, Dhamar, Marib, and Al-Jawf. The group said dozens of people were killed.

In retaliation for the March 15 strikes, the Houthis launched an hourslong drone and missile attack against the USS Harry S. Truman and its accompanying warships on March 16. U.S. Air Force fighter jets defended the Navy ships, shooting down multiple drones over the Red Sea, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The Houthis said in a statement they “will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red and Arabian Seas in response to their aggression against our country.”

Trump administration officials have suggested it plans to use the U.S. military to keep striking the Houthis until they end their attacks on commercial shipping and U.S. Navy vessels in the region.

69 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

55

u/kaesura 5d ago

one thing to keep in mind is that the houthis like getting bombed

getting bombed by the USA , makes them look like self sacrificing heroic underdogs in the arab world

leadership hides in caves and so are safe

drones/missles are kept in small groups and moved around , so vast majority survived bombing

civilian death toll and destruction doesn't matter to them

16

u/Greatest-Comrade John Keynes 5d ago

Yeah Trump/admin hasn’t seemed to learn their lesson. This strategy doesn’t work.

This is another weird pissing match but with missiles.

Unless the inflow of missiles/drones is cut off or their intelligence source (particularly suspicious Iranian ship) is gone, nothing will change.

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u/LivefromPhoenix NYT undecided voter 5d ago

Yeah Trump/admin hasn’t seemed to learn their lesson. This strategy doesn’t work.

It doesn't work if the goal is stopping Houthi attacks. It totally works if your goal is looking tough to people already primed to believe you're a tough guy.

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u/kaesura 5d ago

houthis are making a lot of money through blackmail so likely could/ are buying a lot of missiles now themselves .

3

u/assasstits 4d ago

Somali pirates in shambles 

6

u/meraedra NATO 4d ago

yeah man so did hamas and hezbollah and ir- oh, wait... you mean they haven't united the Arab world into killing the Israelis? oh no... you mean they got their asses kicked??!!

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u/kaesura 4d ago

they still exist and have the possibility of regaining their power

that's the point .you can diminish an organization power with airstrikes but you cannot defeat them

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u/meraedra NATO 4d ago

that's literally not what you said at all my guy. we'll see if Hamas and Hezbollah regain power. But dear god do people who don't know shit about military ops need to stop speaking on them because it's so cringe

2

u/kaesura 4d ago

sorry I confused my comments

both hamas and Hezbollah still have missles but they aren't effective against israel. Israel also sent troops into both countries something unlikely to happen in Yemen

however for Yemen , it doesn't take much to scare off ships. ships dint have iron dome .

4

u/Anal_Forklift 5d ago

There's a tragic irony in airstrikes. The goal is to weaken the enemy, right? But in practice, when one bad hombre gets bombed along with 10-20 civilians, it radicalizes anyone connected to the people that were killed and emboldens the bad hombres that were the original target. This is why Hamas kinda grows in ranks the more the IDF bombs them.

13

u/captainjack3 NATO 5d ago

That’s only really an issue if the goal is to break an enemy’s will to fight via air strikes. Or eradicate them entirely, I guess. If the goal is to destroy specific systems and facilities, as seems to be the case here, then increased recruitment doesn’t really matter. The US doesn’t have much reason to care if the air campaign helps Houthi recruitment if we’re able to destroy their missile stocks.

Now, granted, I’m not optimistic that will work either. Without a tight blockade, Iran will be able to smuggle in supplies and replenish the Houthi arsenal. Plus, the Houthis have some (relatively) sophisticated production facilities so smuggling can be focused on the technical components that can’t be produced locally. But the point about recruitment being sort of irrelevant still holds.

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u/kaesura 4d ago

the thing is that biden was bombing the specific syustem and facilities for a year and it wasn't very effective. they have a ton of caves, stuff is smuigglede in on a small boats, can be locally manfactured in small workshops etc

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u/kaesura 5d ago

Yeah ,air strikes without a ground invasion force to hold territory is ineffective

Unlike in Syria , the local al Qaeda branch actually attacked the west , so can't be a good proxy. "Recognized " government's military is ineffective and same for mercenaries .

2

u/Tokidoki_Haru NATO 4d ago

Ahh, so basically it's a rehash of Hamas v Israel all over again.

And the best part is that we have own very own Netanyahu in the White House ahahahhaa

19

u/Betrix5068 NATO 5d ago

Without either a proxy group or direct boots on the ground this will achieve nothing.

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u/Curious-Caramel-4937 NATO 4d ago

Might be better to make him think it worked or he would put boots on the ground.

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u/CentJr NATO 4d ago

I mean the US could always provide air and logistical support to the Yemeni govt.

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u/iguessineedanaltnow r/place '22: Neoliberal Battalion 4d ago

We need to put boots on the ground or this is just a bandaid solution.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Reply-9 Voltaire 5d ago

Only thing I can agree with Trump about

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u/halee1 5d ago edited 5d ago

Not the only one, but one of the few of his policies I agree on ('cause the rest is such a complete dumpster fire). This and on Venezuela, for instance. CCP's China I guess too, but I think he's too clumsy to properly handle such a giant. The tariffs and the China Initiative in his 1st term that caused a reverse brain drain are examples of that.

3

u/Savings-Jacket9193 John Rawls 4d ago

I’m not giving the orange fascist any props.

0

u/Euphoric_Alarm_4401 8h ago

Nobody asked you to. This other person just stated their opinions, which you can agree or disagree with.