The US appears to be at war with Yemen, and reporters want an honest answer on that. Houthis are targeting shipping through the Red Sea on orders from Iran. They control much of Yemen, which has declared war on Israel.
A reporter from the AF Post asked the Pentagon spokesperson: “Is it now fair to say that the US is at war in Yemen? And secondly, there are reports about US MQ 9 being shut down over Iraq by Iranian-backed militia …”
Pentagon Spokesperson Sabrina Singh: “I’ll take the second — the last one first. I have seen those reports; I don’t have anything for you on that, so I’d have to circle back with you. I’ve seen those reports but don’t have anything to add.
“In terms of your first question, no, we don’t seek war; we don’t think that we are at war; we don’t want to see a regional war. The Houthis are the ones that continue to launch cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles at innocent Mariners, at commercial vessels that are just transiting an area that sees, you know, 10 to 15% of the world’s commerce.
“The US is, what we are doing with our partners, is self-defense. We certainly don’t want to see this widen out to a regional war, and we don’t want to see this continue, which is why you have seen the action that we’ve taken. And as the secretary has stated before, we will continue to take that action if we need to just to follow up on Idris’s question, I said that we are not at war with the Houthis.”
ANOTHER REPORTER: “But if you know this tit-for-tat bombing, we bombed them five times now. So, if this isn’t war, can you just explain that a little bit more to us? If this isn’t war, what is war?”
SINGH: ” Sure, Laura, sure, great question. I just wasn’t expecting it phrased exactly that way. Look, we do not seek war; we are not at war with the Houthis in terms of a definition. I think that would be more of a clear declaration from the United States. But again, what we are doing and the actions that we are taking are defensive in nature. I would turn back to the fact that there have been over 30 attacks by Houthis on 50 different nations that are transiting the Red Sea at this time I can only repeat so many times that we do not seek war with the Houthis, but we will take self-defense actions if we need to protect our troops, to protect commercial shipping, and to ensure that freedom of navigation is still allowed through international waterways.”
“Is it now fair to say that the US is at war in Yemen?”
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh: “We don’t think that we are at war.”
“We’ve bombed them five times now… If this isn’t war, what is war?”
Singh: “We are not at war with the Houthis.”
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— AF Post (@AFpost) January 21, 2024
Is it only self-defense if we bomb the country? Maybe.
An ABC News headline reads:
US Navy faces its most intense combat since World War II against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels
The U.S.-led campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels has turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II.
By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press
ABOARD THE USS LABOON IN THE RED SEA — 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.
The combat pits the 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. Keep Reading
The world has fallen apart under Joe Biden and the progressive Democrats.
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