Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Tebboune: Achieving economic integration must not remain a dream.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf delivers a speech on behalf of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the Fifth Arab Development, Economic, and Social Summit in Baghdad.
Mustafa: We reaffirm our commitment to work with our brothers and friends around the world for stability and an end to wars.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa: We stress the importance of reaching an agreement to implement the initiatives of the Development, Economic, and Social Summit.
Aboul Gheit: The global economy is going through a period of turbulence.
Aboul Gheit: Concrete solutions must be found for the issue of Arab food security in line with the strategy proposed at the Arab Summit in Baghdad.
Aboul Gheit: Arab national security is an integrated whole that cannot be achieved without food, social, cyber, and other forms of security.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit: We present a comprehensive Arab strategy for food security at the Arab Development Summit.
The closing statement of the Arab Summit: We reaffirm our absolute rejection of the displacement of the Palestinian people and call for the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip.
The closing statement of the Arab Summit: The goal of the Arab Summit is to unify our efforts and achieve the interests of the peoples of our region.

How Signal leak saga overshadowed US attack on Yemeni civilian home

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: The Intercept + The New York Times
  • 27 Mar 2025 15:47
4 Min Read

Reports reveal that despite US airstrikes aiming to curb YAF attacks, experts argue the Yemenis cannot be defeated by air power alone.

Listen
  • x
  • Leaked chats reveal US goals in Yemen, 'Houthis' hard to defeat: NYT
    Smoke rises from a location reportedly struck by US airstrikes against Sanaa, Yemen, on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP)

US Vice President Mike Waltz suggested that the US military destroy a civilian building to kill a Yemeni official allegedly present there, as exposed in the Signal group chat, a report by The Intercept on Thursday revealed.

Waltz wrote on Signal, "The first target — their top missile guy — we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building, and it’s now collapsed." 

Vice President JD Vance, who previously warned against bombing Yemen in the chat, replied to Waltz by saying, “Excellent.”

Top US security chiefs rejoice over airstrike that flattened residential building

The full Signal chat between Trump's top security chiefs showed that they celebrated the airstrike that flattened a residential building, which likely killed many civilians.

Other administration officials celebrated the destruction of the residential building, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, US Middle Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard previously opposed US intervention against Ansar Allah in Yemen, which she called “genocidal” during President Trump’s first term in office; however, she supported the new aggression on Yemen, which hasn’t been authorized by Congress, and replied to the news of the residential building being hit by saying, “Great works and effects!”

President Donald Trump began his aggression on Yemen earlier this month, after the YAF threatened to attack Israeli ships again over "Israel’s" blockade preventing aid from entering the Gaza Strip, killing tens of Yemeni civilians.

Related News

Trump to hold phone calls with Putin, Zelensky amid ceasefire push

Trump foreign gifts raise alarms over ethics, influence amid Gulf ties

“Too often the news coverage of the Signal chat leak has lacked any real discussion of the actual act of war itself — the fact that the US is bombing people in Yemen,” Stephanie Savell, the director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University, told The Intercept.

“Fifty-three people have died in this latest wave of US airstrikes, five of them children. These are just the latest deaths in a long track record of US killing in Yemen, and the research shows that US airstrikes in many countries have a history of killing and traumatizing innocent civilians and wreaking havoc on people’s lives and livelihoods."

US airstrikes fail to deter YAF attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes

A report by The New York Times (NYT) revealed on Thursday that the US officials are working to reduce the Yemeni Armed Forces' (YAF) assaults on ships in the Red Sea, but experts argue that the airstrikes under Biden's administration haven't been effective in deterring the YAF and that the group cannot be defeated with air power alone.

According to the report, leaked messages from a group chat among Trump administration officials candidly disclosed the administration's objectives for the airstrikes carried out this month against the YAF.

However, some participants in the conversation stated that the airstrikes were intended to discourage the YAF from targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea and to reopen shipping routes to the Suez Canal. However, these ambitious goals shared by senior officials in the Signal chat may not align with the reality on the ground.

'Defeating Houthis won't be easy' 

Middle East experts, as cited by NYT, indicated that the YAF wouldn’t be easily defeated, noting that few wars have been won with air power alone, and military experts believe the same will apply to the Yemenis.

The report also noted that major shipping companies are hesitant to return to the Red Sea. They have instead opted for a different route, which, though inconvenient and costly, allows them to avoid the Red Sea lanes and still meet their delivery timelines.

The NYT report quoted James R. Holmes, the J.C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, who stated that even during the US war to expel Iraq from Kuwait in 1991, when air power was at its peak, a ground invasion was required — and "defeating the Houthis might require an occupation."

"You have to control turf to win," Holmes said, adding, "Aircraft cannot occupy territory, however valuable a supporting capability they are for armies and Marines."

According to the NYT, analysts suggest that the YAF may use the US military strikes to strengthen their position both in Yemen and beyond.

  • United States
  • Yemeni Armed Forces
  • US
  • Ansar Allah
  • Yemen
  • Red Sea

Most Read

Two F-35 jets arrive at it's new operational base Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, at Hill Air Force Base, in northern Utah. (AP)

F-35 near-misses over Yemen signal new risks for 'Israel': Forbes

  • Politics
  • 14 May 2025
Palestinians pray over bodies of people killed in the Israeli bombardment who were brought from the Shifa hospital before burying them in a mass grave in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. (AP )

Gaza casualty figures mask a much bigger horror, new study shows

  • Politics
  • 11 May 2025
Gaza and the logic of necropolitics: Sovereignty measured by killing

Gaza and the logic of necropolitics: Sovereignty measured by killing

  • Politics
  • 15 May 2025
Abu Obaida

Abu Obeida posts shortly after Israeli reports about his assassination

  • Palestine
  • 15 May 2025

Coverage

All
Gaza prevails against genocide

Read Next

All
A Microsoft sign and logo are pictured at the company's headquarters, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Redmond, Wash. (AP)
Technology

Microsoft admits supplying AI to 'Israel' amid Gaza carnage

Israeli occupation’s tanks parked in a staging area near the border with Gaza, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP)
Politics

'Israel' launches multi-axis assault in Gaza under 'Gideon’s Chariots'

People stand at the train ticket counter of NJ Transit at Penn Station, amid a strike by New Jersey Transit train engineers, in New York, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP)
Economy

Commuters stranded amid first New Jersey railway strike in 40 years

Trump's tax bill stalls as Republican opposition demands deeper cuts
US & Canada

Trump's tax bill stalls as Republican opposition demands deeper cuts

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS