Yemen’s al-Houthi rebels have again announced that the armed forces have targeted American warships in the Red Sea. However, the Pentagon has not offered confirmation and rarely admits to coming under such direct attacks.
Wednesday’s statement said missiles and drones were launched against aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other U.S. warships patrolling the Red Sea. It is not known whether the result was direct hits or whether all projectiles were captured.
“Yemen’s Armed Forces Missile Force and Drone Air Force … conducted a joint military operation targeting the American aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and several of its warships in the northern Red Sea, along with a number of winged missiles and drones as they attempted to conduct operations to target Yemen,” the statement reads.
“This carrier targeting is the sixth since its arrival in the Red Sea,” he added. The Iranian-backed group has clearly remained committed and defiant as it blocks Red Sea shipping despite several US, UK and Israeli bombing campaigns.
The timing of this attack is interesting given that over the past 12 hours, widespread reports of a peace deal between Hamas and Israel have persisted. Both President Biden and Donald Trump welcome the deal set for Thursday morning, which Israeli lawmakers still have to vote on.
Houthi rebels have consistently insisted that in order to stop the Red Sea attacks, the Israeli military must withdraw entirely from the Strip.
The Houthi statement said it remains “ready for any escalation of the American or Israeli situation and will continue to fulfill its obligations to the oppressed Palestinian people” and that “the operations will not end until the aggression has ended and the siege of the Gaza Strip is completed.”
If the promised hostage exchange occurs by the end of the week, the Houthis could stop or at least reject these attacks. Recently, several ballistic missiles have been launched in central Israel.
If operations in Yemen continue, this could complicate or undermine efforts to maintain peace in the Gaza Strip, as it is already certain that this is an extremely delicate and fragile truce.
However, there are still many obstacles, and the details of stage 2 still need to be sorted out in stage 1. This leaves open the possibility of a resumption of the fight between Hamas and Israel. So far, a fragile truce with Hezbollah has been maintained in Lebanon.
