The US launched another round of missile strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, marking the fourth time the US has bombed the country since last Friday.
US officials told AP that the strikes were launched from US Navy warships and submarines. The attack came after the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, struck a US-owned cargo ship with a drone in the Gulf of Aden.
Reports on social media said there were strikes in towns and cities across Houthi-controlled Yemen, including Hodeidah, Saada, Dhamar, and Al-Bayda. The Houthis control the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and govern territory where 70-80% of Yemen’s population lives.
US Central Command later confirmed the strikes and claimed it targeted 14 “Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.”
The US strikes in Yemen have significantly escalated the situation in the region as the Houthis have expanded the scope of their targets to American commercial shipping. The Houthis have shown no sign of backing down in the face of the US military and have repeatedly stated they won’t stop attacking Israeli-linked shipping until the Israeli onslaught in Gaza ends.
President Biden has come under significant criticism from some members of Congress for not getting authorization for the strikes on Yemen, but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to bomb the country.
“US officials told that the strikes were launched from US Navy warships and submarines.”
Virtually all those missiles are likely to be Tomahawks, at about $1.5 million to $2 million per copy. Using them in a probably futile effort to stop attacks by drones and comparatively simple ballistic missiles that all cost small fractions of the Tomahawks is unsustainable.
But this fourth round will do the trick … unlike the first three rounds …
In the meantime, shippers are complying with the Houthi requirement of declaring whether they have Israel connections and then sailing right through if they do not. So, who’s wining this tussle again?
Interesting.
During the Vietnam war, a friend of mine had an interesting conversation with a man who was the CFO of one of the manufacturers of munitions. It was over drinks after a round of golf. The man told my friend, laughing as he did, that he, his company, had made several million dollars that morning. When asked how, still laughing , he said that was what was used on a bombing run, and still laughing, there would be more $$$$ tomorrow and the days after that. Another example of the MIC throwing away money: when we lived in Northern California, our neighbor, former air force radar operator during the Vietnam war, told us an amusing story. He and other radar operators were monitoring a run by B-52s, when suddenly, their screens went blank. The runs were cancelled, the bombs had to be ditched into the ocean. It seems that the Navy was conducting “war games”, practicing, and needed radar, so, an admiral had the real war radar switched to the practice war games. “Oh What a Wonderful War”, the tune from a play concerning WWI flashed through my mind.
The MIC makes bank. In the end, isn’t that what truly matters?
It’s certainly what matters to the industrialists of the MIC and the individuals at the Pentagon who are either privileged to use that famous revolving door or hope to be granted that privilege. But the MIC (Raytheon) literally can’t produce Tomahawks fast enough for an exercise like this to be sustainable for very long if very many missiles are launched.
Didn’t they bring back retirees to manufacture?
Yes, I think that’s right. Still:
“Together with the Marine Corps, the Navy and our [foreign military sales], we are maxing out the lines with respect to Tomahawk and three of the four multiyear procurements, with the exception of the Naval Strike Missile.”
~John Gumbleton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget
Navy’s 2024 plan backs long-range weapons, shrinks amphibious fleet
During Korea, former WWII fighter pilots were brought back.
I wonder if the war criminals doing the targeting for this round of strikes are the same incompetents that have been doing it for the Saudis all these years?
YES. …Oh, sorry. I thought you wanted an answer to your question until I realized you already knew the answer.
A wag called this (illegal) bombing campaign ‘Operation Genocide Guardian’
Perfect
Absolutely perfect
That’s it, while the goons guard the front and back doors.
Be all that you can be. Show the IDF you’ve got their back while they slaughter trapped and defenseless old men, women and children.
Or shoot them when they emerge from the rubble. While carrying a white flag.
“President Biden has come under significant criticism from some members of Congress for not getting authorization for the strikes on Yemen…” That criticism is like receiving 40 lashes by a wet spaghetti noodle.
Yes … “significant” was putting it rather strongly …
So Israel is reimbursing us for the billions of dollars we are spending on being their security guard, right ?
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Good one!
The Israelis repay the US with heart felt gratitude. You can take that stuff to the bank.
😀
1. Houthis labeled as terrorist group? Check
2. Iraq wants U.S. forces out? Check
3. Next closest country for fun filled adventure? Check.
Yemen occupation still on schedule.
Lebanon? Check. Next: Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. Check
“Occupation” is doubtful, because we can’t do it. The Marines wargamed that quite a few times over the last decade, and we always lost.
So what we are likely to see is more mass murder by starvation blockades and bombing of infrastructure needed for civilian life. Already the Saudis wrecked a lot of the water supply of the desert region, driving out those people.
Well, “occupation” by whom? It won’t be the US, since we don’t have the capability. The Saudis certainly don’t want the hassle after the years they spent failing with their bombing campaign (with US assistance.)
I’d love to see the US try to “occupy” Yemen. The Houthis would have a field day killing US troops, who have zero clue how to deal with drone attacks since they’ve never experienced them except slightly in Syria. Witness the utter failure of the US in Iraq to deal with the militias hitting them there with drones.
The same will apply to Lebanon and Iran. The US is utterly incapable of “occupying” anyone these days. This is not 1991 or even 2003. The US can’t scrape together 100-200,000 troops or more to do an occupation.
Yea, just like how we did t see U.S. occupy Syria, and Iraq when both governments wants U.S. out.