The Pentagon said on Wednesday that the US deployed B-2 bombers to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, marking a significant escalation of the US bombing campaign in the country.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the bombers and other US forces targeted “five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.”
According to The Associated Press, the strike marked the first time the US used B-2 bombers in combat since 2017, when they were used to target ISIS fighters in Libya.
The extent of the damage is unclear, and it’s also unclear if there were any casualties. Yemeni media reported 15 air raids in the capital, Sanaa, and the northern Saada province but did not provide any other details. The attack was reported as a “US-British aggression,” but there’s no sign the UK was involved.
In his statement, Austin made clear that the strike was a message to Iran. “This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” he said.
“The employment of US Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere,” Austin added.
Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities are a potential target of Israel, but some of them have been built deep underground and could only be penetrated by the US’s heaviest bunker-busting bombs, which can only be dropped by US heavy bombers. US bunker-busters range from 2,000 pounds to 30,000 pounds, and it’s unclear which type was dropped on Yemen.
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, issued a statement vowing that the strikes would not stop the attacks they began in response to Israel’s genocidal slaughter in Gaza. “The aggressive airstrikes will not deter Yemen from continuing its support and solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon in confronting the Israeli arrogance backed by the United States,” the group said.
The US has been bombing Yemen since January, and Israel has launched two rounds of airstrikes on the country, but the attacks have done nothing to deter the Houthis. According to the Yemen Data Project, a total of 15 US and Israeli strikes hit Yemen in the month of September, resulting in 73 civilian casualties, including dead and wounded.
YDP said Israeli strikes killed five civilians and injured 57, while strikes reported as a joint US-British attack killed two civilians and wounded nine. The US-British strike hit near a girl’s school, causing a stampede that crushed two students to death. The killing of the two girls was reported by Yemeni media at the time of the strike.
This is the only way the US can fight: bomb civilians from the air. And it's been demonstrated in every war since air power was introduced that it's not an effective way to defeat the enemy. You have to have ground troops that maneuver, occupy territory and destroy enemy forces on the ground.
And the US can not put ground troops anywhere, still less in Iran which has, in addition to its regular army and IRGC, a militia from one million to ten million strong.
Also, if you look at the Wikipedia article for the 30,000 lb bomb, you'll find that it's penetration is only 200 feet and that the US has only maybe a couple dozen of them in existence.
So this chest-flexing by Austin is just BS. Some Iranian facilities are way deeper than 200 feet – up to between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet).. It took Israel from 80-90 bunker busters of normal size to destroy the building and underground bunker in Beirut to kill Hassan nasrallah.
Plus Iran now has the S400 air defense systems, and a host of high-tech defense mechanisms that will be used. These stealth bombers will be dripping from the sky. The Zionist Colony and US deep state THINK they can strike anyone from the air. We shall see…
Correct.
Aren't most or many B-2's based in Diego Garcia anyway ?
That's not really a "flex" on the aircraft's "long range".
More like, a display of the internal justification for 1100+ US military bases around the world.
And Diego Garcia is within Iran's missile range…! Which means if US intends to use B2s to strike Iranian nuclear facilities on behalf of Israel, the retaliation direction would also be in the opposition direction east or southeastwards…!
"And Diego Garcia is within Iran's missile range" Which missiles does Iran have that can hit Diego Garcia? Diego Garcia is not that close to Iran.
"Aren't most or many B-2's based in Diego Garcia anyway" Nope The B-2 operates from Whiteman Air Force Base. This attack was staged using a RAAF air base in Australia.
US is getting involved deeper and deeper. The irony is -/ the poorest country on earth is taking international law seriously and doing something to stop genocide. While Western societies need a box, a narrative of carefully data-mined facts to create a definition of genocide, put it in a box and find an aporooriate title. Else, genocide does not exist. To be fair, this process applies to history, linguistics, archeology and increasingly genetics. Now, the world is used to the condition where dominant theories in history are usually preferred narratives and fact selected to support the theory. The inconvenient facts get often burried in the debris of data mining. A day does not go buy without us being graced by “analyses” and “reports” that transparently push a desired narrative on the basis of carefully selected “proofs”.
So, why are we surprised. Another narrative box that is titled “Iran”, and carefully data-mined facts are here to educate us in how to think.
Yet, it is more than obvious that Iran cannot be the source of weapons supply – not directly anyway. North Yemen that Houthies (Zaidi Yemen) control, has no functioning ports, no functioning airports. One has to have seen the geography of the country to grasp the futility of any weapons delivery via sea or air. And Houthis are surrounded in all sides by their enemies: Southern Secessionists, nominally under expired government in Aden, and Saudi Arabia on the northern and eastern borders.
Bombing can hurt civilians and the agriculture. But not military. Yemen’s mountains are passable via only few routes.
It may come as a shocker to the box-loving analysts that Yemen must be supplied by its presumed enemies. Saudi Arabia, Southern Secesdionists that have functioning ports, Iran via Saudi Arabia, etc. UAE is a veritable hub of foreign intrigue, and a huge Russian presence.
Huthis do not have the technology to field a supersonic or a hypersonic weapon. They have no satelite capability yet, the missile had to have been guided.
For all the bluster of atacking Yemen civilian infrastructure, there is precious little information on weapons and their location. Yemen is no Gaza. And will be helped from unexpected sources. Russia has made sure that it has been advertised far and wide that proxie war in Ukraine calls for Russia to arm various US opponents. Not a mystery.
US on behalf of Israel is focused on Iran. Iran is the only obstacle to taking down the entire Middle East . Israel already spoke of this goal – from Nile to Arabian Sea.
For the same reason all Gulf states have denied overflight rights to Israel in any attack on Iran.
Very dangerous for us. We have a good life and need to be grateful for our peace and prosperity. Yet, we alliw a group of zealots to push us into wars. Wars not even of choice — but wars of vanity, obsession of power, and fantasy of greatness. And this resurected Voldemort, Trickyite dreams of global domination and permanent revolution. Read Chaos. From Chaos the world was created, to Chaos it will return. Pitty the children, there are no adults to protect them.
In his statement, Austin made clear that the strike was a message to Iran.
such an absurd statement from Austin. He sounds like a thug.
That's it. Bigger Bombs are the answer. The bigger our bombs get, the more Ridiculous and Evil we all become.
I thought you fellows always measured everything, including masculinity!
;-/
LOL.
Good one. But some of us males don't. We're afraid to see the results.
LOL my tape measure breaks it down into 16ths of an inch
Doubt this will cause any serious damage to the Yemeni capabilities.
Also, considering that all this is complicity with the Zionist genocide of Palestine, it raises questions about which countries are allowing these bombers to operate from, be them European or Arab.
I can only guess as to how many taxpayer dollars it cost to send a couple of B-2's from Missouri to the Middle East to 'send a message'. That message was to show we can bomb anyone, anywhere, any time we want- and that's something the whole world knows and has known since well before the Cold War ended and that we've demonstrated ever since. So what exactly was this in aid of? Bombing Yemen is a bitch move: as usual, we send our best and most expensive weapons to flatten one of the poorest nations on earth- and one that has absolutely no way to defend itself from such an attack- and crow about it in the press to prove how tough we are.
”Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran! Oh bomb Iran! Please take my hand!”
And Yemen, and, and, and…”
Boring redundancy!
I'd say "Yemen can't possibly stand against the U.S. air force," except they already have, for many years. The Saudi air force is basically the U.S. air force. The U.S. even keeps supplying their spare parts because it's American planes. With U.S. satellite targeting. With the U.S. air force supplying re-fueling in the air over Yemen for all the years of war.
And still Murder bin Salmon had to make peace with Yemen, and everyone in Saudi says the war was his biggest mistake.
I don't know how the Yemenis did it, how they kept their missiles despite all those years of bombings. But they did. It's pretty impressive.
Other countries are much more efficient in their military budgeting.
Why don't you try it on Iran Lloyd and see B2 shut down…!