Posted on 01/23/2024 5:12:29 AM PST by bert
What this means is that the strikes against Yemen, of which there have been several over the past month, have now entered a new phase.
The US and UK armed forces carried out airstrikes on eight sites in Yemen overnight between January 22 and 23. The strikes were an important symbol of the decision by the US and allied countries to show that they mean business when it comes to stopping Iranian-backed Houthi aggression.
The Houthis have sought to blockade the Red Sea while allowing Russian and Chinese-linked ships to pass. Freedom of navigation is a key to global trade and also a key foundation of US foreign policy over the last 150 years.
US Central Command said on Tuesday morning that “as part of ongoing international efforts to respond to increased Houthi destabilizing and illegal activities in the region, on Jan. 22 at approximately 11:59 p.m. (Sanaa / Yemen time), US Central Command forces alongside UK Armed Forces, and with the support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted strikes on 8 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen.”
"Five Eyes" network is cracking down on Houthi attacks and capabilities The support of Bahrain, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands is important. Canada, Australia, and the UK are all part of the “Five Eyes” network of countries, along with the US and New Zealand. New Zealand has not backed the attacks, but it is also the smallest of the Five Eyes.
The role of Bahrain in backing the strikes is also important. It hosts the US Fifth Fleet. The US says that it targeted several areas in Yemen. These included “missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, radars, and deeply buried weapons storage facilities.”
What this means is that the strikes against Yemen, of which there have been several over the past month, have now entered a new phase. This phase is designed to degrade the Houthi's capabilities. The Houthis have built up an Iranian-backed arsenal of drones and missiles and use these weapons to target ships. They have become more precise in their targeting over the last several years.
Houthis have been stockpiling offensive capabilities for years This is part of a wider Iranian campaign against shipping that goes back to 2019. The Iranians also used cruise missiles and drones to attack Saudi Arabia in 2019. It’s important to see the Houthis as a kind of test bed for Iranian precision drone attacks and also ballistic missile attacks. While it has been known since 2015 that the Iranians were sending parts for missiles and drones to Yemen, the threat of the Houthis to shipping emerged only recently.
Iran operationalized the Houthis in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. It has used the Houthis to try to blockade Israel and carry out attacks on a plethora of ships. To defeat the Houthis, their missile silos and stockpiles will have to be destroyed.
In addition, it appears that the strikes have also targeted air defense systems and areas near airports in Yemen. US Central Command says that “these strikes are separate and distinct from the multinational freedom of navigation actions performed under Operation Prosperity Guardian.”
In the UK Britain’s Ministry of Defense said that four Air Force Typhoon jets struck “multiple targets at two military sites in the vicinity of Sanaa airfield.” The strikes were “aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities,” said UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps. The Houthis say that the strikes targeted Al-Dailami Air Base and Al-Hafa, near Sanaa.
The Houthis vowed the attacks will “never go unanswered.” Iranian Tasnim media reprinted the Houthi threats to retaliate. However, the Houthis may now have fewer weapons to retaliate with.
The article was posted to provide those neo isolationist here with the reality of events in the Red Sea. There was considerable whining about perceived American failure and acting alone. Both views were misinformed
Support from Five Eyes means nothing. Golf clap support.
The countries in the region should police and defend the region.
I notice you’re not fighting anywhere. Just a geriatric warmongering ****.
The Marshall Islands aren’t the US…
Oh bull shit.
You don’t know what the locals are doing
How much does a symbol cost these days, with inflation? An "important" symbol must fetch a premium price.
One might suppose an important symbol would stop the tribal Muslims, so the next days will testify whether a symbol has staying power. I wager not.
Way to go........ you got your money lick in. It’s irrelevant
I know they aren’t launching $3 million missiles in my tax dollars.
I know the “US” shipping companies aren’t paying proper US taxes.
I know you are a loud mouth.
Go fight and die for shipping companies from tax havens.
Cut the head off of the snake. Iran is partnering with Russia and China to force the west to surrender to them.
He has no plan other than kill them all, which no western country will even remotely engage in.
A bitter old man seeking to burn everything down.
Yemen has a population of about 33-34 million, about the same size as Saudia Arabia. Iran is about 85 million. Bahrain, which figures into this article, is a mere 1.5 million, by way of comparison about the same population as Kyiv in the moment. Another which has played "larger than they are" in geopolitics is Qatar, with its less than 3 million.
But the interesting thing about the Middle East's Muslim lands is that the many are not moneyed, while the Muslim rulers throughout are wildly wealthy. This predicts an uncertain future as many look to "share" such as oil wealth. Add in the Shia-Sunni divide, and this area has much travail awaiting it. It will become crucial on which side of the Sunni-Shia divide the non-Muslim world wagers. Too many variables will confound, it is assured.
What is assured, as we play the world's policeman, is that our credit card is maxxing out, now well over 34 trillion.
Debt ClockFederal Budget Deficit Grew to $2 Trillion in FY 2023 Tax Foundation, 12 October 2023
How times have changed.
I think I came here in 1998. Except for the occasional Ron Paul supporter, isolationism like this was NEVER seen until recently.
It’s not a bad thing, but the very people lambasting the ‘geriatric warhawks’ may have been leading the charge, so to speak, just a few years ago.
I have some thoughts about the American Fighting Man, but it’s beyond the scope of the discussion. For now. (The thoughts are not the least bit negative.) BTW, I am a 9 year Army veteran, but I was never in a combat zone and no one ever shot at me.
Anyway, I support our current military action against the Hooties.
How much debt defines "irrelevant?"
In the moment, apparently 34+ trillion doesn't, one guesses.
Five Eyes = Countries which agree to let each other spy on each other, using tools that would normally require courts or legislatures to approve, as long as they report to the source country what information they were able to extract. This allows, for instance, the US to provide all infrastructure tooling and access with abandon to England, in exchange for England providing the FBI everything it otherwise was illegal to have collected, through all legal channels. All the FBI needs to do is ask England for whatever the FBI wants. How it “finds” it is kept continually secret, but may require then getting a search warrant to legitimize the information found through its Five Eyes partner.
Thoughtful comments. I,too am amazed at the proliferation of modern day Lindbergh’s, Father Flanagan, and Jeannette Rankins
“The article was posted to provide those neo isolationist here with the reality of events in the Red Sea. There was considerable whining about perceived American failure and acting alone. Both views were misinformed”
I’m not an isolationist, but I can read:
“The strikes were an important symbol of the decision by the US and allied countries to show that they mean business when it comes to stopping Iranian-backed Houthi aggression.”
When all that can be bragged about is providing a “symbol,” nothing is being done. Brag after 6 weeks of no Houti strikes of any kind. So far, nothing has been done, as far as a reasonable person can see.
Show me a few days of Rolling Thunder that turns to rubble everything within a 5-mile radius of the point of origin of any Houti weapon launch. Then we can talk about who is an isolationist.
Operation against Iranian shipping attacks began 1978-1888
Operation Prime Chance 1987 - anti Iranian mine laying campaign
Operation Praying Mantis 1988 - Iranian navy wiped out.
I agree, what has happened to the Freepers of old? This new bunch sux, they feel the need to make jokes on any and all posts and many support our enemies.
You forget, money and tax $$$ are fungible. Your taxes are being spent on feeding Black crack babies in Baltimore and Philadelphia
Weather we should be thier is debatable. But we have a right to respond to attacks
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