World
US Navy Struggles to Combat Houthi Rebels in the Red Sea Corridor
The US Navy’s operation against the Houthi rebels, overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip, has become the Navy’s most intensive ongoing sea fight since World War II, according to Navy officers and experts.
The conflict confronts the Navy’s responsibility to keep international waterways open against a group whose old stockpile of assault rifles and pickup trucks has expanded into an almost limitless supply of drones, missiles, and other weaponry.
Since November, the Houthis have launched nearly daily strikes on more than 50 vessels, while shipping volume has plummeted in the critical Red Sea corridor that connects to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.
The Houthis claim the attacks are intended to end the fighting in Gaza and help the Palestinians, despite the fact that they are also attempting to bolster their position in Yemen. All indications are that the conflict will escalate, placing US sailors, friends, and commercial boats at risk.
The U.S. Navy prepared for decades to potentially fight the Soviet Union, then later Russia and China, on the world’s waterways. But instead of a global power, the Navy finds itself locked in combat with a shadowy, Iran-backed rebel group based in Yemen.
The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthi rebels, overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, has turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II, its leaders and experts told The Associated Press.
US Navy fighting Missiles and Drones
The combat pits the US Navy’s mission to keep international waterways open against a group whose former arsenal of assault rifles and pickup trucks has grown into a seemingly inexhaustible supply of drones, missiles and other weaponry.
Near-daily attacks by the Houthis since November have seen more than 50 vessels clearly targeted, while shipping volume has dropped in the vital Red Sea corridor that leads to the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean.
The Houthis say the attacks are aimed at stopping the war in Gaza and supporting the Palestinians, though it comes as they try to strengthen their position in Yemen. All signs suggest the warfare will intensify — putting U.S. sailors, their allies and commercial vessels at more risk.
“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.
One round of fire on Jan. 9 saw the Laboon, other vessels and F/A-18s from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower shoot down 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis.
Nearly every day — aside from a slowdown during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan — the Houthis launch missiles, drones or some other type of attack in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the waterways and separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.
The Navy saw periods of combat during the “Tanker Wars” of the 1980s in the Persian Gulf, but that largely involved ships hitting mines. The Houthi assaults involve direct attacks on commercial vessels and warships.
“This is the most sustained combat that the U.S. Navy has seen since World War II — easily, no question,” said Bryan Clark, a former Navy submariner and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. “We’re sort of on the verge of the Houthis being able to mount the kinds of attacks that the U.S. can’t stop every time, and then we will start to see substantial damage. … If you let it fester, the Houthis are going to get to be a much more capable, competent, experienced force.”
Destroyer USS Laboon: AP Image
Dangers at sea and in the air
While the Eisenhower appears to largely stay at a distance, destroyers like the Laboon spend six out of seven days near or off Yemen — the “weapons engagement zone,” in Navy speak.
Sea combat in the Mideast remains risky, something the Navy knows well. In 1987, an Iraqi fighter jet fired missiles that struck the USS Stark, a frigate on patrol in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war, killing 37 sailors and nearly sinking the vessel.
There’s also the USS Cole, targeted in 2000 by boat-borne al-Qaida suicide bombers during a refueling stop in Yemen’s port city of Aden, which killed 17 on board. AP journalists saw the Cole patrolling the Red Sea with the Laboon on Wednesday, the same day the Houthis launched a drone-boat attack against a commercial ship there that disabled the vessel.
That commercial ship was abandoned on Friday and left adrift and unlit in the Red Sea, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, the Navy’s commander for its Carrier Strike Group Two, which includes the Eisenhower and supporting ships, said the Navy had taken out one underwater bomb-carrying drone launched by the Houthis as well during the campaign.
“We currently have pretty high confidence that not only is Iran providing financial support, but they’re providing intelligence support,” Miguez said. “We know for a fact the Houthis have also gotten training to target maritime shipping and target U.S. warships.”
Asked if the Navy believed Iran picks targets for the Houthis, Miguez would only say there was “collaboration” between Tehran and the rebels. He also noted Iran continues to arm the Houthis, despite U.N. sanctions blocking weapons transfers to them.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations told the AP that Tehran “is adept at thwarting the U.S. strategy in a way that not only strengthens (the Houthis) but also ensures compliance with the pertinent resolutions.”
The risk isn’t just on the water. The U.S.-led campaign has carried out numerous airstrikes targeting Houthi positions inside Yemen, including what the U.S. military describes as radar stations, launch sites, arsenals and other locations. One round of U.S. and British strikes on May 30 killed at least 16 people, the deadliest attack acknowledged by the rebels.
The Eisenhower’s air crews have dropped over 350 bombs and fired 50 missiles at targets in the campaign, said Capt. Marvin Scott, who oversees all the air group’s aircraft. Meanwhile, the Houthis apparently have shot down multiple MQ-9 Reaper drones with surface-to-air missile systems.
“The Houthis also have surface-to-air capabilities that we have significantly degraded, but they are still present and still there,” Scott said. “We’re always prepared to be shot at by the Houthis.”
A stalemated war
Officers acknowledge some grumbling among their crew, wondering why the Navy doesn’t strike harder against the Houthis. The White House hasn’t discussed the Houthi campaign at the same level as negotiations over the Israel-Hamas war.
There are several likely reasons. The U.S. has been indirectly trying to lower tensions with Iran, particularly after Tehran launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel and now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
Meanwhile, there’s the Houthis themselves. The rebel group has battled a Saudi-led coalition into a stalemate in a wider war that’s killed more than 150,000 people, including civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
The U.S. directly fighting the Houthis is something the leaders of the Zaydi Shiite group likely want. Their motto long has been “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.” Combating the U.S. and siding publicly with the Palestinians has some in the Mideast praising the rebels.
While the United States and its European allies police the waterways, Saudi Arabia has mainly been silent, seeking a peace settlement with the Houthis. According to reports, certain Middle Eastern countries have begged the United States not to initiate attacks on the Houthis from their territory, making Eisenhower’s presence even more crucial.
The carrier’s deployment has been extended, and its crew has only made one port stop since its deployment a week after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Obama and Yemen
In 2015, US President Barack Obama began assisting a Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The goal was to restore Yemen’s government, which the Houthis had deposed.
Obama approved logistical support, intelligence sharing, and weaponry sales to the coalition. Critics believe that this assistance exacerbated a humanitarian disaster, killing thousands of civilians and pushing millions to the edge of hunger.
Proponents argue that it was important to oppose Iranian influence in the region, given Tehran’s support for the Houthis. Despite objectives, the war has lingered on, causing enormous misery among Yemen’s people.
The Kremlin announced on Monday that President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia with US military long-range missiles is “fuel to the fire” and will exacerbate international tensions.
Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to employ US military long-range missiles to strike deep within Russia has raised concerns about growing tensions, with many fearing that this decision could lead to world conflict.
On Monday, with less than two months remaining in office, President Joe Biden authorized American-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike deep within Russia.
“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” said Peskov, the spokesman for the president.
Peskov reminded journalists of a September statement by President Vladimir Putin, who stated that enabling Ukraine to target Russia would dramatically raise the stakes.
It would alter “the very nature of the conflict dramatically,” Putin stated. This would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries would be at war with Russia.”
Peskov asserted that Western countries that deliver longer-range weaponry also provide targeting services to Kyiv. “This fundamentally changes the modality of their involvement in the conflict,” he said.
Ukraine War Escalation
In June, Putin threatened that if NATO permitted Ukraine to utilize the arsenal of its partners to attack Russian territory, Moscow would send longer-range weapons to others to strike Western targets.
“The Westerners supply weapons to Ukraine and say: ‘We do not control anything here anymore and it does not matter how they are used.'” Putin had said. “We can also say, ‘We supplied something to someone — and now we have no control over anything.'” “And let them think about it.”
Putin again emphasized Moscow’s willingness to deploy nuclear weapons if it perceived a threat to its sovereignty.
Biden’s decision will “mean the direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in military action against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated.
The new policy has unpredictable consequences. ATACMS, with a range of roughly 300 kilometers (190 miles), can travel deep behind Ukraine’s 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, although their range is modest compared to other types of ballistic and cruise missiles.
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20, has not responded, but he won the election on promises to stop the conflict, and some people close to him have decried the action as a hazardous escalation.
Missile Decision Sparks Anger
The Military Industrial Complex appears to want to start World War III before my father has a chance to restore peace and rescue lives. We need to lock in those $Trillions. Life be damned!! Imbeciles!” Donald Trump Jr., the President-elect’s son, posted on X
“On his way out of office, Joe Biden is dangerously trying to start WWIII by authorizing Ukraine to use U.S. long-range missiles against Russia,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on X. “The American people gave a mandate on November 5 against these exact American last decisions.”
Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” speculated that the stories were a “trial balloon to disrupt Trump” and that Biden may not have authorized the ATACMS strikes yet.
According to Dani Belo, PhD, Director of Security and International Relations at Global Policy Horizons Research Lab, Ukraine’s ability to currently hit Russian territory has the potential to escalate the war with Russia.
However, Donald Trump’s victory is likely to moderate the escalation.
There is speculation that Donald Trump’s administration would restrict military hardware deliveries to Ukraine, putting political pressure on Kyiv to resolve the crisis. This implies Ukraine has no motivation to escalate now and lose its fighting capability in a matter of months.
Russia sees no reason to escalate the situation at this time. Moscow expects that Trump’s administration will try to finish the war soon, so the Kremlin will likely take a wait-and-see approach until the new presidential administration takes office without significantly escalating the conflict. As a result, any escalation is unlikely.
Source: AP
Related News:
Trump Shakes Up Pentagon Names Pete Hegseth Defence Secretary
Trump Shakes Up Pentagon Names Pete Hegseth Defence Secretary
(VOR News) – Elon Musk, the billionaire and CEO of Tesla, claims in a subsequent court filing that was submitted on November 14 that he was successful in stopping OpenAI from doing an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018.
According to the filing requirements, this information was disclosed.
Musk and his legal team have claimed that two of OpenAI’s founders, Greg Brockman and Sam Altman, tried unsuccessfully to create a token in early 2018 to help the company grow. To the best of our knowledge, this was the founders’ intention.
Elon Musk accurately described the scenario.
Elon Musk made the remark during the pertinent time period, according to the lawsuit’s accusations.
This, in his opinion, would lead to a significant decline in trust in OpenAI and everyone involved in the initial coin offering (ICO). These statements are extracted from his initial declaration.
A unique project backed by Altman, Worldcoin launched a token twenty-three years ago with the goal of creating digital identification for verified individuals.
Furthermore, the company in charge of token distribution was Worldcoin. Through the use of the token, Worldcoin was able to authenticate individual identities.
When OpenAI was first founded, it was a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating safe artificial general intelligence (AGI).
In this context, the acronym AGI stands for artificial global intelligence. “Musk has continuously voiced concern about the grave threat that these sophisticated systems pose to humanity,” his attorney wrote in the complaint. These sophisticated technologies represent a serious threat to humankind.
“Musk remains apprehensive regarding this threat.” “Musk regards these threats with the utmost seriousness.” “Elon Musk has harbored these concerns for an extended period.”
This led to Musk joining OpenAI’s board of directors and continuing to serve as co-chair of the board. Furthermore, he was appointed to that board of directors post.
Elon Musk contributed $44 million to the enterprise.
OpenAI declared in a March 5th news release that it was imperative that the company adopt a profit-making structure in order to obtain the necessary funding to achieve its objectives. In order to enable OpenAI to fulfill its objectives, this transition was necessary.
According to both the OpenAI statement and the amended filing, Elon Musk advocated for the combination of OpenAI and Tesla to help the artificial intelligence startup with its financial issues.
The aforementioned measures were implemented to mitigate the challenges that the organization was facing at that specific moment. Musk submitted his resignation as an OpenAI employee in February 2018.
He founded his own artificial intelligence company, which he named XAI, in the ensuing years. His efforts directly led to the achievement he achieved.
We are deeply disappointed that our friendship with someone we have always held in the highest respect has deteriorated.
As we started to make significant strides toward OpenAI’s goal on our own, this person, who had previously motivated us to achieve greater heights, abruptly predicted that we would fail, established a rival company, and filed a lawsuit against us, according to the group’s press release.
In August of this year, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEOs, Altman and Brockman, claiming that they had violated federal RICO statutes, engaged in unfair competition, and committed fraud. OpenAI is the target of legal action taken by Elon Musk.
According to Elon Musk, they have engaged in additional illegal activity. Microsoft was named as one of the defendants in the dispute in the updated complaint, which was submitted on November 14.
It’s being presented as a case at the moment. Microsoft and OpenAI started working together in 2019, and Microsoft committed $1 billion in the partnership.
In July 2023, OpenAI’s native cryptocurrency, Worldcoin (WLD), was made available to the general public. Not too long ago, an article published by The Block disclosed this knowledge. When the market closed on November 15 at 11:36 p.m. Eastern Time (16:36 UTC), the price of a share of WLD was $2.21.
SOURCE: TB
SEE ALSO:
Trump Appoints Robert F. Kennedy Jr to Head HHS
UK Police Visit Journalist Allison Pearson Over Old Tweet
President-elect Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr) to run the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), sending Democrats and Big Pharma allies into a tailspin.
“I am delighted to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and medicine firms, which have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation regarding public health,” Trump stated in his announcement.
“The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any administration, and HHS will play an important role in ensuring that everyone is safe from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to this country’s overwhelming health crisis.
Mr. Kennedy will restore these agencies to gold-standard scientific Research and Transparency traditions, stopping the Chronic Disease Epidemic and making America Great and Healthy Again!” Trump added.
Reactions to RFK Jr HHS Appointment
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Medicare, Medicaid, and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy is a former environmental justice lawyer who has recently started an anti-vaccine nonprofit. He ran for president as an independent candidate in 2024 but dropped out to join Trump’s closest circle.
House Republicans have reacted to Donald Trump’s nomination of former presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.
Chip Roy, a Texas congressman, calls it “great news”. He tells me, “We need disruption throughout the federal government.” He’ll be fantastic at HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] to do that.”
Roy adds that he expects Kennedy’s candidacy will clear the Senate.
“There’s been a few Kennedy’s in the Senate in the past so maybe there’ll be some legacy there that they will want to move him through,” he speculates.
South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman concurs with Roy on Kennedy’s confirmation in the Senate: “I believe he was an excellent choice by the president, as have all of them. Kennedy is interested in, and passionate about, the medical industry. He will do a terrific job with it.”
According to Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit group focused on consumer protection, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “is a clear and present danger to the nation’s health.”
He should not be allowed to enter the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), let alone be appointed director of the nation’s public health agency.”
“Donald Trump’s mishandling of public health policies during the Covid outbreak resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. “By appointing Kennedy as secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another policy-driven public health disaster,” the organization continued.
Apu Akkad, an infectious disease physician at the University of Southern California, described the statement as a “scary day for public health”.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical stocks such as Pfizer and Moderna plummeted following news of Kennedy’s nomination for HHS Secretary, as investors considered his potential impact on vaccine sales.
Novavax and BioNTech finished down more than 7%, with almost all losses occurring when word of the selection broke—Novavax shares fell to $7.22, and BioNTech shares fell to $103.56.
Moderna’s stock closed 5.6% at $39.77, reaching its lowest point of the year.
Sanofi’s stock fell 3.4% to $47.82, continuing a weeks-long share price decline that began after the company’s latest earnings report last month.
Pfizer lost less than its competitors on Thursday, closing down 2.6% at $26.02, despite having its sharpest drop of the day immediately following the RFK Jr. announcement.
Related News:
What Marijuana Reclassification Means For The United States
Canada Records its First Case on Monkeypox
Trudeau Rocks to Taylor Swift While Montreal Burns
Calgary Zoo Admits Human Error in Death of Baby Gorilla
Canada’s Lotto Max Jackpot Climbs to $80M
Getting Permanent Residence in Portugal
Trudeau Orders Facebook to Block Australian Presser Video
Canada CBC News CEO Catherine Tait Recalled to Parliamentary Committee
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
Apple Launches The IPhone Into The AI Era With Free Software Update
Pro-Khalistanis Sikhs Attack Hindu Temple in Brampton
Trudeau Orders Facebook to Block Australian Presser Video
Pro-Khalistanis Sikhs Attack Hindu Temple in Brampton
Galaxy Gas the News Craze on TiKTok May Have Negative Consequences
Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ a Box Office Success Gets 4.5 Stars
Megalopolis Trailer Pulled By Lionsgate Over Fabricated Critics Quotes
-
Politics2 weeks agoTrudeau Orders Facebook to Block Australian Presser Video
-
Business4 weeks ago
Canada CBC News CEO Catherine Tait Recalled to Parliamentary Committee
-
Celebrity4 weeks ago
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
-
Tech4 weeks ago
Apple Launches The IPhone Into The AI Era With Free Software Update
-
News3 weeks ago
Pro-Khalistanis Sikhs Attack Hindu Temple in Brampton
-
Food4 weeks ago
Starbucks Is Making A Popular Add-On Free Of Charge
