In coordination with the Iraqi resistance, the Huthis have launched an operation against the Israeli port of Haifa, an action claimed by Abdel-Malik Al Huthi. Over the past month the Huthis have deployed 91 ballistic missiles and drones in 38 operations targeting ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean.
Al Huthi claims that Yemeni militias have developed a long-range ballistic missile capable of evading the “Iron Dome” radar and reaching any point in Israel.
They have also launched seven ballistic missiles and four drones against the U.S. aircraft carrier Eisenhower, forcing the U.S. Navy to move north of the Red Sea to prevent further attacks.
The Houthi leader’s speech came shortly after the militia’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, announced that his forces along with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq had carried out two drone strikes against ships in the Israeli port of Haifa in response to Israeli military operations in Rafah.
The Yemenis carried out two military operations in coordination with the Iraqi resistance. “The first targeted two ships carrying military equipment to Haifa port,” Saree said, while the second attack targeted a ship that had violated a ban on reaching the same Israeli port.
Since imposing a blockade of shipping on international shipping lanes in November, the Huthis have seized one commercial vessel, sunk another and launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles against more than 130 ships in the Red Sea, the Bab El Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean.The Huthis, a rebel movement in an impoverished and depleted Arab country, have reprised the myth of David versus Goliath, where David always wins.
Their operations have focused on ships affiliated with Israel or sailing toward Israel to force the latter to end its slaughter in the Gaza Strip.On Wednesday Saree said three ships had been attacked in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, without specifying the exact date of the attacks.
He explained that his missile and drone forces had targeted the Roza and Vantage Dream in the Red Sea because those ships had violated the embargo on travel to the Israeli port, as well as the Maersk Seletar in the Arabian Sea, which he identified as belonging to the United States.Vessel tracking app Marine Traffic identifies the Roza as a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier that was traveling from India through the Suez Canal and was expected to arrive Thursday.
The Vantage Dream, another Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, was following a similar route, while the Maersk Seletar, a U.S.-flagged container ship, left the Omani port of Salalah on Wednesday bound for an as-yet undetermined location.Since Jan. 4, the Huthis have begun launching naval surface drones against U.S. military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Marc Miguez confesses that they have been very surprised. They are not able to detect the launch sites, nor do they know what to do to defend themselves.
Naval drones are evolving, Miguez says, and they are worrisome. It’s “an unknown threat that we don’t have a lot of information about, which could be extremely lethal,” he adds. They are “unmanned surface vessels loaded with bombs that can cruise at fairly fast speeds. If you’re not immediately on the scene, things can get ugly very quickly,” he concludes.
F/A-18 fighter jets from the recently attacked Eisenhower carrier frequently took off to destroy missile sites before munitions were fired, but returned to no avail after more than 240 strikes against more than 50 targets.
The Eisenhower carrier strike group includes the cruiser Philippine Sea, the destroyers Mason and Gravely and additional Navy assets in the region, including the destroyers Laboon and Carney.The naval group claims to have intercepted nearly 100 Huthi drones, anti-ship ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, but the problem is the ones they are unable to intercept.
U.S. Central Command reported last Thursday that Coast Guard Cutter Clarence Sutphin Jr. boarded a ship in the Arabian Sea bound for Yemen on Jan. 28 and seized medium-range ballistic missile parts, explosives, U.S. vehicle components, military-grade communications and other equipment.
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