What the US Has Accomplished, and Not Accomplished, Regarding the Houthis

The Houthis are a Shia people in Yemen who in recent decades have become allies of Iran. Tehran has supplied them with both money and weapons, especially drones and missiles, in order that they may prevail in a contest for control of Yemen with the Sunni Arabs, who are 70% of the population and are backed by Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. This civil war in Yemen is a proxy war, with the Houthis representing the Iranians and the national Yemeni government representing the Saudis. The Houthis, despite constituting only 30% of Yemen’s population, now control both the capital Sanaa and all of North Yemen except for the eastern Marib Governorate. At least 80% of Yemen’s population is under their control. And now the Houthis, as dutiful allies of Iran, have been attempting to shut down Israel’s shipping to and from Asia, by attacking ships in the Red Sea. Most of the ships the Houthis have attacked had nothing to do with Israel, neither in ownership of the cargo or of the ship itself. Their aim is to shut down the Red Sea to all shipping, as they cannot be sure which ships are headed to Israel. The Houthi attacks have led major commercial shipping companies, such as Maersk, to reroute their ships from the Red Sea-Suez Canal trajectory, and instead to go around the Cape of Good Hope, up the western side of the African continent, and into the Mediterranean and the ports of southern Europe.

The Americans recognize the economic damage this rerouting of so many ships has caused, and they have now formed a naval task force based in the Red Sea, to defend shipping against Houthi attacks. But is the Bidenite plan, which so far seems intended only to be defensive in nature, by shooting down Houthi UVAs targeting ships, enough? On Thursday, the Bidenites made this announcement:

In response to continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea, the armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom, with support from the Netherlands, Canada, Bahrain, and Australia, conducted joint strikes in accordance with the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense, consistent with the UN Charter, against a number of targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.  These precision strikes were intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of international mariners in one of the world’s most critical waterways.

Will these strikes do the job? Up to now, the Houthis have shown no signs of reducing the number of drones they are launching against shipping in the Red Sea. They continue to throw large numbers of drones at various ships, and they measure success not by how many that actually hit, but by the response of the shipping companies. And while the full effect of the “joint strikes” remains to be seen, the Houthis have so far seemed to be winning. Every ship that has chosen the much longer and more expensive route around the Horn of Africa is seen by the Houthis as a victory. More on the Houthi threat, and what should be done to permanently remove that threat, can be found here: “Will the US Task Force Undo Years of Neglecting the Houthi Threat?,” by Yaakov Lappin, JNS, January 7, 2024:

…In recent days, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian spoke with his British counterpart, David Cameron, to discuss regional developments. Cameron told Abdollahian that Iran bore responsibility for preventing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the Meir Amit Intelligence Terrorism Information Center reported, citing Iranian media.

Abdollahian said Iran would respond forcefully to any aggression by the “Zionist entity” and that stopping a “Zionist ship in the Red Sea” could not be seen as a threat to the security of the shipping routes while Israel was allowed to carry out “massacres of women and children” and ignite the region, according to the report.

Iran is working hand-in-glove with the Houthis, and has made clear that as long as the IDF’s “massacres of women and children” continued, – meaning as long as the war in Gaza continues — then “Zionist ships in the Red Sea” would continue to be targeted by the Houthis. Many of those “Zionist ships” that have been targeted had nothing to do with Israel, but were merely taking the shortcut through the Red Sea to the Suez Canal, and Europe. The Houthis are prepared to keep it up because, by menacing ships sufficiently so that they choose the longer route to Europe, the resulting economic damage puts the Houthis in a stronger negotiating position over the future of Yemen. And if the only thing the Bidenites intend to do is “defend “ the ships in the Red Sea by shooting down drones — well, drones are cheap to make and plentiful, and this “defensive war” can go on for a long time. The Houthis are hoping the Americans will eventually tire of this campaign thousands of miles from home, and turn the defense of ships in the Red Sea over to the Houthis’ main target, Israel, and to European naval powers whose commercial shipping is most affected by the attempted Houthi blockade of the Red Sea.