Supporters of Houthis sing slogans during a weekly, anti-American and anti-Israeli rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April 18.
Osamah Abdulrahman / AP
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Osamah Abdulrahman / AP
Washington – Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down seven US Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of planes worth more than $ 200 million in terms of the most dramatic cost for the Pentagon of the military campaign against activists supported by Iran.
According to defense officials, three of the drones were slaughtered last week – suggesting that targeting the militants of the without pilot overvain Yemen has improved. Drons were carrying out attack races or surveillance, and they crashed both in water and on earth, officials said, who spoke under the guise of anonymity to discuss military operations.
The United States has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump has ordered a new extended campaign. He promised to use “an overwhelming mortal force” until the houths stop their attacks on expedition along a vital maritime corridor.
The spokesman for the Central Command, Dave Eastburn, said on Thursday evening that the United States had reached more than 800 Houthi targets. “These strikes have destroyed several command and control installations, air defense systems, advanced weapon manufacturing facilities, advanced weapon storage places and have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and many Houthi leaders,” said Eastburn.
Another defense official said that although hostile fires are probably the cause of drone losses, incidents are still under investigation. The manager noted that the increase in American strikes can add to the risk to the planes, but said that the United States will take all possible measures to protect troops, equipment and interest in the region. The manager spoke under the cover of anonymity to comment on sensitive military problems.
Sophisticated drones, built by the general atomic, cost approximately $ 30 million each and generally fly at altitudes of more than 40,000 feet (12,100 meters). Houthi leaders have always praised strikes in public statements. One of the Defense officials said the United States lost Reaper Drones on March 31 and the 3, 9, 13, 18, 19 and 22 April.
The American senators, on the other hand, raise concerns concerning the civilian victims caused by American strikes in Yemen. The Maryland Chris Van Hollen Democrats, Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts and Tim Kaine de Virginie wrote to the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, wonders if the Trump administration “abandons the measures necessary to comply with its obligations to reduce civil damage”.
More specifically, they questioned the information that the United States is hitting the Ras Isa Fuel terminal in Yemen last week potentially killed more than 70 civilians.
“Military leaders are suitable that the attraction of civil damage attenuation practices in American operations leads to better results and that civilian victims are in making the army that the army has been sent,” said their letter.
In addition to dropping drones, the Houthis have constantly pulled missiles and unidirectional attack drones on American military ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They hit them.
The United States uses a range of warships, fighter planes, bombers and drones to hit Houthis, and planes can now be launched from two naval carriers in the region.
Hegseth decided in March to strengthen the presence of a marine warship in the Middle East, ordering USS Harry S. Truman to extend its deployment there, while USS Carl Vinson was heading for the region.
The Truman, as well as two of the destroyers and a cruiser in his strike group, are now in the Red Sea. And Vinson, as well as two destroyers and a cruiser, is in the Gulf of Aden.
The third destroyer assigned to the Truman is in the Mediterranean Sea. And two other destroyers of the American navy are in the Red Sea, but are not part of Truman’s group.
Hegseth assesses the opportunity to grant a request from the American central order to extend the deployment of Truman again. A decision to do it could keep the Truman and at least part of his strike group in the region for several weeks.
It has been rare in recent years for the United States to have two aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time. The managers of the navy generally opposed the idea because it disrupts the maintenance hours of ships and delays time at home for sailors stretched by the unusual combat tempo.
Last year, Biden administration ordered USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carriers to stay in the Red Sea for a long time, while US warships led the most intense maritime battle since the Second World War.
Before that, it had been years that the United States had committed as much warship in the Middle East.
The Houthis have made attacks of missile and persistent drones against commercial and military ships in the region in what group management described as an effort to put an end to the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
From November 2023 to January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant ships with missiles and drones, flowing two and killing four sailors. This has considerably reduced the flow of commerce through the corridor of the Red Sea, which generally sees 1 billion of dollars of goods moving each year.
