Posted on 02/20/2024 9:18:39 AM PST by Signalman
Monday has been a bad day for the Western coalition patrolling the Red Sea. First, US defense officials overnight an MQ-9 Reaper drone was downed and that the Pentagon is investigating, after the Houthis stated (see below) they successfully shot it down:
The Pentagon is investigating the cause of a crash of an American military surveillance drone off the coast of Yemen on Monday morning, two U.S. officials said.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, confirmed that the drone, an MQ-9 Reaper, fell out of the sky. Iranian-backed Houthi militants said on Monday that they had downed the drone near the port city of Al Hudaydah, in western Yemen.
As a reminder, the cost of each Reaper is commonly estimated at $32 million. The below purports to be video of the US drone downing (unverified footage):
Next, CENTCOM has issued a fresh statement confirming the Houthis destroyed a UK-owned commercial ship. The Houthis have claimed the vessel sunk, and this seems to have been acknowledged in the US statement, which follows:
Between 9:30 and 10:45 p.m., Feb. 18, two anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen toward MV Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier. One of the missiles struck the vessel, causing damage. The ship issued a distress call and a coalition warship along with another merchant vessel responded to the call to assist the crew of the MV Rubymar. The crew was transported to a nearby port by the merchant vessel.
All of this comes after several weeks of US coalition airstrikes on Yemen. But the Biden’s administration’s going on the ‘offensive’ against the Houthis is clearly having little or no effect. In fact, Operation Prosperity Guardian seems to only be emboldening the attacks on targets in and over the Red Sea.
The Houthis are now actively going after aerial assets as well, with some ‘successes’, a very dangerous escalation.
Attacks on Red Sea shipping from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis escalated overnight when missiles hit a commercial vessel and forced the crew to evacuate. There are also reports a US drone was knocked out of the sky by an anti-air missile.
The engine room of “Rubymar,” a Belize-flagged cargo ship sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Rubymar reported severe damage after “an explosion in close proximity to the vessel,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center reported.
“Military authorities report crew have abandoned the vessel,” UKMTO said, adding, “Vessel at anchor and all crew are safe.”
This is the first instance the crew of a commercial vessel has been forced to evacuate due to damage sustained by rebel attacks.
Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesperson, warned in a statement that Rubymar is “now at risk of potentially sinking.”
“The ship suffered catastrophic damages and came to a complete halt,” Sare’e continued.
He also said Yemeni air defenses shot down a US General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone in the region “with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country.”
Despite the US and UK having carried out hundreds of attacks on the country in an attempt to neutralize rebels, continued missile and drone attacks on the international shipping lane represent a failure by the collective West to bring peace and safety to the area.
Some purchasing agent at the Pentagon is about to place an order for a new version of these.
Some salesman at General Atomics(?) is going to make a nice commission soon. See, there is a Silver lining for everything. The only one stuck with a loss is Lloyds of London is going to pay out on the sunk bulk vessel.
The US should pull back and stop protecting the world’s waterways. We don’t actually need that stuff — although our allies do. Let them patrol it all.
Our insanely expensive aerospace and defense industry is going to bankrupt us as we keep using million dollar weapons to shoot down thousand dollar drones.
20 men armed with $3 Molotov cocktails can take out a $10 million tank.
We’re losing another war.
Thanks Brandon!
“The US should pull back and stop protecting the world’s waterways.”
That is paramount to saying the U.S. should quit being a global trading nation. A really dumb idea.
No. The whole western trading world should gang up on the Houthis and literlly put them out of business; there should not be a single Houthi military installation of any kind left.
Do you understand they are an Iranian proxy Army?
I thought I'd make a positive comment here just to buck the trend.
I oppose Forever Wars. I think we should leave the Middle East.
And I also am not at all sure that “global trading” is truly good for the US. The Globalists like it, sure. But I think it is an entanglement. Note that I’m not 100% against global trading — but if the world system is wholly dependent on US military might, then I think the cost-benefit situation may be out of whack for us.
That is paramount to saying the U.S. should quit being a global trading nation.
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Ummm...no it isn’t.
Ummm, yes it is. Minus safe passage for ships in international waters global trade would shut down.
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