Israel didn’t just protect its own people, but protected the US Navy.
In June, the AP headlined its story as “In conflict with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, U.S. Navy faces most intense combat since World War II.”
“I don’t think people really understand just kind of how deadly serious it is what we’re doing and how under threat the ships continue to be,” Cmdr. Eric Blomberg with the USS Laboon told the AP on a visit to his warship on the Red Sea.
“We only have to get it wrong once,” he said. “The Houthis just have to get one through.”
The pace of the fire can be seen on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, where the paint around the hatches of its missile pods has been burned away from repeated launches. Its sailors sometimes have seconds to confirm a launch by the Houthis, confer with other ships and open fire on an incoming missile barrage that can move near or beyond the speed of sound.
“It is every single day, every single watch, and some of our ships have been out here for seven-plus months doing that,” said Capt. David Wroe, the commodore overseeing the guided missile destroyers.
How in the world is it possible that an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group out of Yemen could be subjecting the US Navy to the “most intense combat since World War II”?
The answer is partly there in the story. Instead of hitting the Houthis hard, the US Navy has been stuck playing defense as I had described in an earlier article.
After the initial wave of attacks, the US Navy shifted over to what it euphemistically called “defensive air strikes” against Houthi missiles or rockets that had already been launched or were being prepped for launch. The constant reports about “defensive air strikes” made it sound as if the United States were constantly bombing Yemen, when the US Navy had been allowed to do the bare minimum to prevent and survive more incoming attacks. It wasn’t enough.
A New York Times article on the Biden administration’s intentions stated that the strategy represents “the administration’s attempt to chip away at the Houthis’ ability to menace merchant ships and military vessels but not hit so hard as to kill large numbers of Houthi fighters and commanders, and potentially unleash even more mayhem into a region”. As if ceding the Red Sea hasn’t done that already.
The US Navy is tasked with intercepting incoming Houthi attacks. The few airstrikes that were authorized targeted Houthi rockets and radar rather than trying to do real damage.
After a Houthi drone attack hit Tel Aviv, a block away from the US Consulate building which may have been a possible target, Israel hit back, not by trying to play ‘whack-a-mole’ with the Houthis, but by going after major targets and inflicting major damage.
The IAF attack in the Hodeidah area of Yemen was carried out by 20 fighter jets, some of which were refueled in mid-air, and at a distance of more than 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Israel – 200 kilometers farther than Tehran, as confirmed by the IDF.
The port of Hodeidah is one of the main routes through which military supplies and weapons from Iran enter Yemen. About 70% of the goods arriving there go to the Houthis, who act as protection racket for the humanitarian aid arriving at the location. The strike damaged infrastructures that would affect its function as a supply route for weapons launched at Israel.
And the US Navy.
This is going to be a crucial point this week. The so-called “aid” groups will scream bloody murder and claim that Israel is causing a ‘famine’ in Yemen. (No, they don’t have any new propaganda ideas.)
Biden didn’t dare put the port out of commission because it’s where the ‘aid’ comes into Yemen. So he allowed Iran to use it to funnel weapons to the Houthis.
By hitting the port, Israel didn’t just protect its own people, but protected the US Navy.
truth says
“How in the world is it possible that an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group out of Yemen could be subjecting the US Navy to the “most intense combat since World War II”?”
That’s a great question..
I feel so sorry for the members of the US Navy. So you’re telling me they have to wait until someone actually shoots at them before they shoot back.?Then there’s some unelected official all the way back in America deciding which targets are acceptable. I don’t even what to say other than WOW.. I had no idea that was the case. I learn something every day on this site wether that’s the articles themselves or the comments.. Thx!!
God be with those young men and women who are trying their best but are being held back by politics.
MD Anthony says
Think of it…Does Joe Biden do anything to deter Islamic Terrorism. Biden has done more for terrorism and to protect terrorist and to supporting terrorist supporting governments than any US president. It’s like Shiite Muslim Obama led Joe to becoming a Shiite Muslim while he was VP.
Westpacwill says
The biggest naval battle since World War Two — for any countries — was April 18, 1988, in the Persian Gulf after USS Samual B Roberts hit one of the hundreds of mines Iran was spewing into the Gulf in those days of the USN’s Earnest Will convoys for oil tankers in and out of Kuwait during the Iran-Iraq War. Sammy B’s crew kept her afloat and she returned for massive repairs and the next year returned to the Fleet. Three days after that mine-strike, USN warships and UDT divers blew up two Iranian oil platforms used as bases for the mine-laying dhows (Operation Nimble Archer).
Right after that, Iran sortied her whole fleet of missile boats and frigates to confront USN ships in the Gulf and it was a one-day turkey shoot called OPERATION PRAYING MANTIS, in which USN Harpoon missiles, 5-inch guns, and strike aircraft from USS Enterprise (cruising just outside the Gulf in the Arabian Sea) slaughtered those poor Iranian sailors by the bushel. Estimates range from 1/4 to 1/2 of Iranian warships destroyed or severely damaged, including their crown frigate Sabalan, which was severely damaged and trying desperately to make it back into an Iranian port. The last strike would have been more murder than warfare, and I watched CJTME Commander, Adm. Tony Less, stop the final strike and let Sabalan and her crew survive. But even with the mercy of not sinking that major prize, Praying Mantis remains the largest war at sea since World War Two.
gravenimage says
+1
Cato the Elder says
Biden continues to half-ass everything. Israel doesn’t have that luxury. We built a $230 million dock to deliver aid to Gaza, it lasted less than a month. That’s typical of the administration, Obama (yes, Obama) still thinks we need to play nice with Iran. What a tool.
Any rational player would have taken Iran out years ago. But hey, you can reason with religious zealots, right? Leave the Middle East to their own devices and they’ll go back to killing each other, like the last 1400 years.
Transmaster says
https://youtu.be/eJgspVr2wpM?si=4SgWWklxLgljh1nz
somehistory says
If anyone still doubts that there is an evil, very evil, plan afoot…hearing or reading about this should dispel all doubts.
Bruce David Watt says
we have yet to hear what the secret parts of the Iranian peace deal with traitor in chief John Kerry and how bad the deal supported by the Iranian chief Obama really was.
Barbara says
In Nigeria the Non Muslims are being murdered and the world looks the other way. The Christians are murdered in the fields or when fishing for their food.
The weekly murder attacks are not mentioned in the msm
somehistory says
And they won’t be unless it’s to say “clashes” between Christians and mozlums have taken lives…omitting the fact that the mozlums are the murderers and the Christians are victims, having no part in the killings.
Barbara says
In Nigeria the Non Muslims are being murdered and the world looks the other way. The Christians are murdered in the fields or when fishing for their food.
The weekly murder attacks are not mentioned in the msm
gravenimage says
All too often true. Appalling.
Billy Bones says
The Houthi missile attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea are equivalent to German U-boat attacks against commercial shipping in the Atlantic during WWII. We know how the allies responded to those attacks. There is a very clear precedent as to how we should be responding to these Houthi attacks.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Good move by Israel. That should convince the Houthis to focus on limiting their raids to international shipping around the Bab el Mandab
Route P Pill says
this is an easy one
demon crats love hamas and all things muslim
i do not
no religion on earth wants to kill people except the MUSLIM religion
i see a 11 and 12 and 13th crusade in order to rid earth of this curse
gravenimage says
Israel Hit Yemen Harder in 1 Day Than Biden did in 7 Months
……………………………………………..
Good for Israel!