Illustrative image.
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on April 7 that the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen had “a bad three weeks” and “it’s about to get worse” for the Iran-backed group.
Hegseth was referring to ongoing U.S. large-scale operation against the Houthis which began on March 15 on orders from President Donald Trump in response to the group’s renewed attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Speaking during a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hegseth said that the U.S. has destroyed underground facilities, weapons manufacturing sites, bunkers, troops, and air defense assets of the Houthis since the start of the operation.
“We are not going to relent,” said Hegseth, “and it’s only going to be more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships.”
The defense secretary added that the U.S. has been “very clear” to the Iranians that they must stop providing support for the Houthis.
Trump, who headed the White House meeting, also claimed the operation against the Houthis has been “very successful militarily.”
Despite the American optimism, the Israeli Defense Forces announced late on April 7 that it had intercepted a drone launched at Israel “from the east.”
The drone was shot down before crossing into Israel, the military said in a brief statement, adding that no sirens were sounded “according to protocol.”
The Houthis quickly took responsibility for the attack, claiming in a statement that they had hit a “military target” near the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv with a Yafa suicide drone.
The Yafa is a larger version of an Iranian suicide drone codenamed by the United States military and intelligence as KAS-04. The Houthis have been operating several versions of the KAS-04 dubbed Samad-1, 2, 3 and 4 for more than six years now.
The Houthis also claimed in the same statement to have targeted two U.S. destroyers in the Red Sea with several cruise missiles and suicide drones.
Overnight, some 22 U.S. strikes hit Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. The al-Masirah TV said that the strikes targeted areas east and south of the capital, Sanaa, the Island of Kamaran in the Red Sea, and areas both north and south of the oil-rich Marib province. No casualties were reported.
The U.S. operation in Yemen has so far claimed the lives of more than 73 people, including both civilians and commanders of the Houthis.
Recent reports revealed that the Pentagon has so far spent around $1 billion on the operation. Despite this high cost and the lack of any clear results, Hegseth’s recent remarks indicate that the Trump administration is planning further escalation.
Last week, a report by The War Zone revealed that the U.S. military has already begun to use B-2 strategic stealth bombers deployed at the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia in its operation against the Houthis. Next, the U.S. military may launch raids on the ground with help from local forces backed by Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. This could reignite the war in Yemen.
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the limp american dick is scaring nobody. the ussa has not been able to re-open trade routes in the red sea despite all its huffing and puffing. trumpberg is a useless charlatan, he is actually accelerating the collapse of the empire. do not interrupt a fool when he is making a mistake
hegseth you clown i hope you are fired or resign very soon inshallah
truly excellent work houthis, continue!
yemen will be the graveyard of anyone invading yemen. ask the saudis how this worked out for them over 10 years. the peacemaker is on a roll. what will the u.s. do when they’ve run out of munitions and still have a war to fight? this is the urgency behind tramps attacks. he wants a quick win at all costs because their window of opportunity is closing and they know it. how the world would laugh if one of those b2’s dropped out of the sky.
go houthis! the world is cheering you on as you humiliate uncle sam. 😬👍
iran couldn’t even save syria from a few rebels…yemeni monkeys are drunk on banana rum if they iran will save them from usa-israel…heheheh
the illegal undeclared us war on yemen will not alter the yemen peoples opinions of viewpoints of israel . the us has not won a real war in decades . yemen is a very popular country in china .
dumb and dumber, roman’s had better strategy than new roman’s on its last days.
strange how usa do not get it: it would be enough to stop violence vs palestinians to stop houti actions. but not, instead usa bomb and kill them too, not enough how many palestinians were butchered by zionists. usa and zios love war evidently. another journalist killed in gaza.