US struggling to halt Red Sea attacks despite strikes: Officials
3 Min Read
A CNN report says US officials are struggling to devise an effective strategy against the operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces in the Red Sea.
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In this photo provided by the Indian Navy on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, a view of the oil tanker Marlin Luanda in the background, on fire after an attack, in the Gulf of Aden, taken from the Indian Navy guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam. (Indian Navy via AP)
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.
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.
On Thursday, Ansar Allah leader Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badreddine al-Houthi emphasized during a televised speech that the Yemeni Armed Forces have developed the existing missiles in their arsenal to the point that they have become too advanced for the US forces to intercept, as they have failed to block them from reaching their ships.
A couple of days ago, US Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper declared, in an interview on CBS's '60 Minutes', that the engagement against the Yemeni Armed Forces in the Red Sea constitutes one of the most significant naval battles the US has encountered in decades.
"I think you'd have to go back to World War II where you have ships who are engaged in combat," Cooper told the host Norah O'Donnell, on Sunday, before adding that "when I say engaged in combat, where they're getting shot at, we're getting shot at, and we're shooting back."
Cooper, the deputy commander of the US Central Command, informed O'Donnell that approximately 7,000 sailors from the Navy were deployed to the Red Sea.
The operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) against Israeli and Israeli-bound ships -- carried out in support of the people of Gaza until the Israeli aggression on the Strip ceases -- have forced some companies to take alternative routes including a two-week detour around the tip of southern Africa.
The YAF have also reiterated that they only chose clear and specific targets to hit the Israeli enemy until the American and British forces became involved in the aggression against Yemen, which turned them into targets as well, reiterating that no other countries are being targeted by the YAF.
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