YAF scored 'impressive feats of marksmanship' vs US carrier: Report
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Reports reveal that the Yemeni Armed Forces successfully launched a missile that landed some 200 meters away from a US aircraft carrier, demonstrating "impressive feats of marksmanship".
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A fighter jet lands on the US aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, also known as the 'Ike', on the south Red Sea, February 12, 2024. (AP)
According to a report from Newsweek, the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) reportedly came close to striking a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea with a missile earlier this year.
The incident was detailed in the October issue of CTC Sentinel, a monthly publication by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, officially known as the United States Military Academy.
In the article, Michael Knights, the Jill and Jay Bernstein Fellow with the Military and Security Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, highlighted how the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out "impressive feats of marksmanship" against ships using their weapons.
The article details that "an ASBM [anti-ship ballistic missile] or other missile arrived at a very shallow trajectory, with minimal warning, without a chance for interception, and splashing down around 200 meters [656 feet]" from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier.
Newsweek contacted US Central Command, responsible for military operations in the Middle East, via email for comment. The author noted that the information about the incident came from interviews with American and British intelligence officers specializing in Yemen.
YAF operations against 'Israel' for genocide in Gaza
The YAF initiated operations targeting Israeli, Israeli-affiliated ships, and vessels heading to Israeli ports in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden following the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza. In response, the US and its European allies deployed warships to protect Israeli vessels.
The YAF utilized a diverse array of weapons for their operations, including unmanned aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles, in addition to ballistic and cruise missiles. They employed the ship-based Automatic Identification System to "find, fix, and finish" their targets.
The operations forced the US Navy to deploy the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group, which deployed a total of 155 surface-to-air missiles, 135 land-attack cruise missiles, nearly 60 air-to-air missiles, and 420 air-to-surface weapons during what it termed a "historic" combat deployment.
The US Navy is currently deploying one aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Middle East. It was previously stationed alongside its sister ship, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which left the region last month and returned to its home port of San Diego, California, on Tuesday.
Earlier last week, the YAF carried out two military operations in support of the oppressed Palestinian and Lebanese peoples and in solidarity with their Resistance, as well as in response to the US and British aggression on Yemen, spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced on October 10.
The first operation, conducted jointly by the YAF's missile, UAV, and naval forces, targeted the American oil tanker OLYMPIC SPIRIT in the Red Sea with 11 ballistic missiles and two drones, Saree said, confirming that the strikes were precise and severe.
As for the second operation carried out by the YAF's missile force, it targeted the ST. JOHN ship in the Indian Ocean with a cruise missile, resulting in a direct hit, the spokesperson said.
