Already over three months into the Israel-Palestine/Hamas conflict, the battle has been spilling out across the Middle East. Most notably, the Houthi rebels from Yemen have been stalking and pirating ships in the Red Sea. With funding and arms support from Iran, just like Hamas, they have been attacking ships with rarely before-seen precision. Firing missiles and rockets at ships, as well as launching unmanned suicide drones at ships, they claim to only be going after ships owned by or bound for Israel.
This is a statement made by the Houthi rebels, and easy and thorough investigations into the ships they have attacked reveal that the claim is incredibly inaccurate.
Patrolling the Red Sea to help ensure ships have safe passage, the US and UK Navy, as well as other countries, have been instrumental in keeping the peace. Aiding as best they can when the pirates strike, these brave men and women are doing their best in a losing effort. A move by Biden to keep the Navy largely with their hands tied has led to many companies hiring their mercenaries to help keep these ships safe. Proving to be of little resistance in many cases, Biden is finally stepping up.
On January 9/10th, US and UK forces struck back with devastating precision, taking out multiple entrenched & well-established missile launching sites as well. Additionally, surplus storage depots and identified combatants were targeted with the airstrikes. In response, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi militants, vowed that they would respond with much, much more than drones and missiles. With their attack on the US embassy in Baghdad the next night, they fulfilled his prophecy.
In a statement on January 12th, Biden talked about the direct response to the roughly 130 attacks by Houthi rebels on shipping services in the Red Sea.
“Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces – together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands – successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways. These attacks have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation. More than 50 nations have been affected in 27 attacks on international commercial shipping.”
Despite the frequent fighting and attacks in various parts of the globe, the US has left the Houthis and their associates alone since 2016. With 10% of the global trade passing through the Red Sea, it was a necessity for the US and UK, as well as other nations, to get involved in these responses.
This response led to the Houthi rebels launching an all-out attack on US troops in Iraq later that night. Targeting the US Embassy in Baghdad, just as Houthi warned, they lobbed in precision rockets and mortars. With US servicemembers largely being able to avoid the area, the only real reports coming out about the attack have come via social media. Biden has essentially forced the mainstream media to gloss over it.
For the administration, this has become second nature. Hiding and cowing away until forced to respond, then when he does, his Press Secretary is as quiet as possible about it. It’s pathetic to see him doing the right thing and going after the Houthis and hiding it. Not to mention his bi-lateral support of both the Israelis and Houthis that they have sought to downplay. Meanwhile, he keeps touting the need for the US to fund everything short of chicken McNuggets to Ukraine.
If he doesn’t keep the pressure on the Houthis and keep US servicemembers from being attacked in this manner, then the American people have just another reason to vote him out in November.