6/14/24
Yemen says 145 ships targeted in support of Gaza as US laments 'deadly' threat
Western naval missions have failed dramatically at stemming Yemen's pro-Palestine operations, with officials describing the battle as the 'most sustained combat that the US Navy has seen since World War II'
The leader of Yemen's ruling Ansarallah resistance movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, revealed on 13 June that the Yemeni armed forces targeted 145 ships linked to Israel, the US, and the UK since the start of Sanaa's pro-Palestine operations in November.
The number includes 11 naval operations and two military operations “deep inside Israel” conducted over the past week, which used “31 ballistic and winged missiles, drones, and military boats.”
The most recent of these operations took place on Thursday, when Yemeni cruise missiles struck the M/V Verbena commercial bulk cargo carrier in the Gulf of Aden, reportedly setting it on fire and wounding at least one crew member.
According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the Verbena is a Palauan-flagged, Ukrainian-owned, and Polish-operated bulk cargo carrier that had “docked in Malaysia and was on its way to Italy carrying wood.”
The revelations from the Ansarallah leader came hours ahead of a report by AP in which US navy commanders lament the “deadly serious” threat posed by the Arab world's poorest country.
“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,” Commander Eric Blomberg with the USS Laboon told AP.
“We only have to get it wrong once,” he said. “The Houthis just have to get one through.”
The report details the intensity of the Yemeni attacks, highlighting that members of the US-led naval mission “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 Captain David Wroe, the commodore overseeing Washington's guided missile destroyers.
Bryan Clark, a former Navy submariner and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, confirmed previous statements by top CENTCOM officials who said the naval battle against Yemen is the largest Washington has participated in since WWII.
“This is the most sustained combat that the US Navy has seen since World War II — easily, no question,” Clark told AP. “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.”
Five months after US and UK jets started bombing targets across Yemen in support of Israel, attacks from the Yemeni armed forces have continued unabated. Late last month, Sanaa launched two attacks against the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier, and just days later, the country launched its first joint operation with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI).
Yemeni authorities also recently dismantled an extensive spy network operated by US and Israeli intelligence agencies.