Retaliations slow Houthis attacks
WASHINGTON — Houthi rebels in Yemen may be running through their supplies of drone swarms and anti-ship ballistic missiles as the pace of their attacks has slowed a bit, the top U.S. Air Force commander for the Middle East said Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who heads U.S. Air Forces Central, said the persistent American retaliatory strikes on the Iran-backed militia group have “certainly affected their behavior. Their pace of operations is not what it was.”
The Houthis have been conducting near daily attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, disrupting a crucial shipping route.
In response, the U.S. and allies have been forced to increase their military ship presence along the waterway, and on several occasions have launched wider retaliatory strikes. U.S. ships and fighter jets have also been routinely bombing Houthi drones and missiles that are in place and preparing to launch.
Grynkewich said it’s difficult to know exactly how much the Houthis’ weapons supplies have been eroded by the U.S. strikes, because officials didn’t have a detailed intelligence assessment of their capabilities before the attacks began.
He said the U.S. believes the Houthis had dozens of anti-ship ballistic missiles when they started, and they’ve launched dozens. So understanding how much Iran is able to restock the group is key.
The Houthis have defended their campaign as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The ships they’ve targeted, however, have largely had little or no connection to Israel or other nations involved in the war.
Speaking to reporters, Grynkewich said the Houthis are more independent and more difficult for Iran to control than other Tehran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. Those groups have largely paused their attacks on U.S. forces at based in Iraq and Syria since early February, when the U.S. launched a massive retaliatory assault against the groups and sites connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
U.S. officials have said they believe pressure from Iran was part of the reason for the pause. But Grynkewich said the Houthis are “not quite as responsive” to Iranian direction.