The U.S.-led campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels has become the most intense naval battle the Navy has faced since World War II, experts say.
The US military unleashed a wave of attacks on radar sites operated by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in retaliation for a series of missile attacks in the Arabian and Red. US Army Central Command said there was destroyed seven radars.
“These radars allow the Houthis to target maritime vessels and place commercial navigation in danger“Central Command said in a statement. It is not yet known if there were any deaths or injuries in the operation.
The Houthi rebels claim their attacks are in response to the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza StripHowever, in Iranian-backed rebel raids, the Houthis often attack ships that are not related to war.
The attacks have halved traffic in a crucial maritime corridor for the transport of goods and energy between Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
This week, two cruise missiles launched by the Houthi rebels set fire to a bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden. The attack hit the Ukrainian-owned and Polish-operated bulk carrier M/V Verbena, and seriously injured a civilian sailor.
Meanwhile, Central Command declared that a commercial sailor from the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Tutor remained missing following an attack on Wednesday.
The Houthiswho have held Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, since 2014, They did not recognize any military losses after the US attacks. They have launched more than 50 attackshave killed three sailors, seized one ship and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.
A US-led airstrike campaign that began in January has killed at least 16 people and wounded 42 others in response.
The shadow war being waged in one of the world’s most crucial waterways has become the most intense ongoing naval battle the US Navy has faced since World War IIaccording to what its leaders and experts told AP.
“I don’t think people really understand the seriousness of what we’re doing and how threatened ships continue to be“Commander Eric Blomberg of the USS Laboon told the AP on a visit to his warship in the Red Sea.
“We only have to be wrong once,” he said. “The Houthis just have to get one through.”
