By Luther Ray Abel
Thursday,
January 11, 2024
The
U.S. and its allies have done what needed doing by striking with air and sea
forces the bases and locations from which the Iran-backed Houthis have
bedeviled our forces afloat and international trade in 27
separate attacks since November 19, as Dominic Pino notes. The U.K. lent
military force to the effort, while Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and
Bahrain contributed “non-operational support.”
Brittany
Bernstein reports
for National Review:
The U.S. and Britain launched air strikes in
Yemen on Thursday in response to the Iran-backed Houthis’ recent attacks
against vessels in the Red Sea.
The strikes came hours after White House
national-security spokesman John Kirby called on the Houthis to “stop these
attacks” and warned that the group would “bear the consequences for any failure
to do so.”
The militants have launched 27 attacks on
vessels in the Red Sea since November 19, the U.S. military said earlier on
Thursday. The group says the attacks are in protest of the Israel–Hamas war.
The retaliatory strikes targeted a source of
the group’s attacks, Bloomberg News reported, noting that
heavy explosions were seen in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the port city of
Al Hudaydah. The attacks were carried out with support from Australia, the
Netherlands, Bahrain, and Canada, while the U.K. contributed aircraft.
No
small undertaking, the coalition forces used all available modes of attack to
deliver overwhelming force to multiple locations almost simultaneously — a
testament to the firepower of friendship.
USNI reports:
Strikes came from the air, surface and
subsurface, a defense official told USNI News Thursday. Air Force strike
fighters originating from a base in the Middle East and Super Hornets from
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) were involved, USNI News
understands. The U.S. also launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from
ships in the Red Sea and at least one submarine, as well. U.S. officials would
not identify the submarine, but Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN-728)
entered the Red Sea in November. Florida can carry up to 154 Tomahawk missiles.
U.K. Secretary of State for Defence Grant
Shapps said on social media site X that four Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s
conducted precision strikes on two Houthi military targets.
One of the targets was in Bani, located in
northwestern Yemen, which Houthi used to launch attack and reconnaissance
drones. Aircraft targeted a number of buildings at the site, the U.K. Ministry
of Defence said in a statement.
The other site was an airfield at Abbs,
Yemen. The Ministry of Defence said that the Houthis have used the airfield to
launch cruise missiles and drones.
The
most interesting participant of these may be the USS Florida. It’s
rare enough to know the approximate location of a U.S. submarine, let alone
have it take a practically confirmed active role in the proceedings. Having
been schooled by submariners for a while, I can say from experience that they
are a secretive bunch. They’ll never say where they were or what they did
except in the few ports of call that subs are allowed. It was from one such
silent vessel that Tomahawk
missiles took flight.
Meanwhile,
the Brits were applying Paveway bombs to Bani. The Paveways are quite the
engineering marvel.
Good
on the Biden administration for ordering the strike. Was it much later and much
too telegraphed for my liking? Yes. However, knowing Biden’s
penchant for avoiding necessary conflict at any cost, one should be
grateful for a move in the correct direction.
That
said, the most complex
attack yet launched by the Houthis (January 9), which included anti-ship
cruise missiles, should never have happened. The Biden administration had
the coalition it needed three weeks ago. American leadership relies on the
heroism of its servicemen far too often, while not allowing the ability to
reciprocate for the violence sent against them until the leadership’s hand is
forced.
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