In thwarting "over 130 direct attacks" on US military and merchant vessels in the Middle East over the past six months, the US Navy has spent around $1 billion on munitions, US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Tuesday. 

He further called on lawmakers to pass the supplemental national security package to "replenish munitions."

Speaking to the Senate Appropriations Committee, he said "Over the course of the last six months …. we have actually countered over 130 direct attacks on US Navy ships and merchant ships."

"The munitions that are critical to these counterstrikes are extremely important to the Department of the Navy," Del Toro added. 

"We currently have approaching $1 billion in munitions that we need to replenish at some point in time. So therefore, the over $2 billion that’s provided for in the supplemental is direly critical to our Navy and Marine Corps to be able to replenish those munitions and continue to provide the types of defensive measures that we have this past six and a half months now," he said.

US struggling to halt Red Sea attacks despite strikes: Officials

President Joe Biden's administration is facing challenges in halting the ongoing operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) in the Red Sea and the YAF is persistently reinforcing its weapons stockpile, despite US forces delivering multiple strikes against multiple targets in Yemen, CNN reported citing US officials on February 24.

The report pointed out that US officials are struggling to devise an effective strategy against the YAF, as some within the Biden administration argue that relying solely on the use of force is proving ineffective.

Additionally, it is deemed expensive and impractical to continue launching multimillion-dollar missiles at relatively inexpensive YAF drones and rockets, CNN suggested.

The news website cited several officials as saying that the US lacks a clear assessment of the percentage of YAF equipment destroyed during strikes on Yemen, making it uncertain whether the military approach will undergo further changes.

"We just don’t have a good idea of what they [YAF] still have," a senior defense official told CNN, adding, "They continue to surprise us."

The CNN report also revealed that in some quarters of the Biden administration, there is a belief that the YAF might cease their operations if the Israeli occupation entity stops its aggression on the Gaza Strip.