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2025-03-18 Arabia
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Strike for strike. Americans find out who helped the Houthis attack the aircraft carrier
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The United States and the Yemeni Ansar Allah (Houthis) movement have dug up the "hatchet" again after a brief respite.
| A cute play on the American idiom bury the hatchet. Do go on… |
Donald Trump has not ignored recent statements by Houthi leaders about resuming privateering actions against Israeli ships and has authorized "preemptive military measures."
The operation in Yemen was the first since the Republicans came to the White House. And although it largely continued the Democrats' course of weakening the Houthis' military potential, the Trump administration changed its focus.
Now the strikes on Yemen are needed not to weaken Ansar Allah, but to reason with its “big brother” – Iran.
| Ever interested in efficiency and cost savings, President Trump is going for two for the price of one. |
FROM "REBELS" TO "TERRORISTS"
Republicans joined the fight against the Houthis under the same slogan as Democrats did earlier – in the name of protecting international shipping in the Red Sea. However, the current operation was presented as a fight against a terrorist threat – as reported by the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
In fact sheets distributed by CENTCOM, Ansar Allah is lumped in with terrorist organizations such as ISIS* and al-Qaeda*.
| And Hezbollah and Hamas, along with the Houthis all clients of Russian client Iran. |
This positioning quite clearly demonstrates the negative attitude of Trump supporters towards pro-Iranian formations in Yemen.
| The Biden administration didn't get nearly so exercised about the situation, to be sure. But CENTCOM handouts aren’t the work of specifically Trump supporters, but of the American professional military, surely. |
Especially in light of the fact that even during the acute phase of the confrontation in the Red Sea, the Democrats used more streamlined formulations and called the Houthis “pro-Iranian rebels.”
Washington also managed to involve at least three Arabian monarchies in the operations: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Although pilots from these countries did not take part in the raid, the monarchies gave the go-ahead for the use of their airspace and military facilities, something they stubbornly avoided under Joe Biden.
| Interesting. Joe Biden had run in 2020 on getting the world to like and respect America again... |
The geography of the attacks did not change significantly. American aviation concentrated on the provinces of Sanaa and Al-Bayda, where, according to Pentagon operational reports, most of the Ansar Allah command posts were located, as well as weapons arsenals and launchers.
The US Air Force also carried out two strikes on the captain's cabin of the Israeli vessel Galaxy Leader, which was captured by the Houthis back in 2023 and, according to some reports, was used as a floating command post.
| I wondered about that. Good to know. |
In terms of enemy casualties, the American operation against the Houthis was perhaps the most effective: as a result of the raid, at least thirty people were killed, more than a hundred were injured; some still remain under the rubble.
True, most of the victims were civilians.
| So it is claimed. But we know that so often the difference between jihdi soldiers and jihadi civilians is whether they have yet dropped the gun that was in their hands and kicked it away. |
The movement's resources did not officially report on the presence of "martyrs" among the Ansar Allah fighters.
REVENGE FOR THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER
Washington clearly has no intention of stopping there. Trump has openly stated that he is prepared to “unleash hell” on the Houthis and their allies if they continue to obstruct shipping in the Red Sea. The American military has effectively been given carte blanche.
And the American "hawks" are rushing to take advantage of the opportunities that have opened up. In particular, CENTCOM is proposing to the White House to expand the geography of the strike not only to the land part of Yemen, but also to the waters of the Red Sea controlled by the Houthis.
This approach would allow strikes against Iranian targets near Yemen, including Iranian intelligence ships at anchor.
The Pentagon agrees with the proposal and is pushing for Iranian Navy intelligence vessels to transmit information to Ansar Allah, thereby greatly increasing the effectiveness of their operations.
The desire of the American military to “probe” the waters is not only practical, but also a desire to protect the “honor of the uniform.”
Since the start of the air operation, the Houthis have managed to figure out the location of the American aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and attack it at least twice with anti-ship missiles and UAVs.
| Shooting in the general direction, anyway. They didn’t manage to hit their targets — clearly Allah did not will it. |
The Pentagon is convinced that this could not have happened without outside help.
THERE ARE NO GREAT SUCCESSES
If we put aside the public rhetoric of Trump and his entourage, it is clear that the effectiveness of the new US strikes on Yemen is not much higher than the previous ones.
| You go with that — we’ll go with reality. Not to mention the ability to keep shooting until Regnum is forced to concede exactly how much more effective the Trump Navy is than the Biden one. |
Objective monitoring of the bombings still gives contradictory information about the number of Ansar Allah facilities destroyed.
| Munitions secondaries still going off? |
According to external observers, every third target hit was either a decoy or a civilian building. The Houthis' military potential was almost unscathed. The Pentagon cites a more favorable ratio, but does not boast of great successes either.
In addition, the US air force has largely ignored the mountainous province of Saada, where the movement's "bunker number 1" is rumored to be located. The US is unlikely to be able to reach the Houthi leaders without a ground operation.
| Or ground-penetrating radar and ditto bombs. Oddly enough, Israel now has those, too… |
However, in this case, it will be necessary to rely on the Saudi and Emirati creatures, who are currently weakened by inter-factional squabbles and are not eager to escalate the confrontation with Ansar Allah.
American officials unanimously insist that the beating of Yemeni proxy forces is a “clear signal” to Iran, a key ally and donor to the movement. But how effective such actions are is an open question.
| We’ll only know once we’ve done it, I quite agree. |
Of course, Tehran is forced to more closely monitor the Yemeni direction, allocating additional forces and resources to support the Houthis, and taking into account the risk of the possible elimination of the movement’s top leaders.
In addition, Washington's overly focused attention on Yemen complicates Ansar Allah's inclusion in the anti-Israel Operation True Promise 3, which the Iranian establishment regularly threatens.
At the same time, it is too optimistic to expect that pressure on the Houthis will be able to knock Iran off its current course. Official Tehran is using aggression against its Yemeni assets as an excuse to invigorate the bored "Axis of Resistance" by turning the Houthis into an example to follow.
In this reading, the increase in US military activity in the Red Sea is only a plus for the Iranians and their allies.
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Posted by badanov 2025-03-18 00:00||
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