Yemen takes on USS Truman as Washington's war 'compounds humanitarian crisis'
Daily US airstrikes on Yemen have made it difficult for humanitarian organizations operating in the country to help those in need
News Desk
APR 2, 2025
(Photo credit: Michael Gomez/US Navy/AFP)
The Yemeni army announced on 2 April that it targeted the USS Harry S. Truman and other US warships in the Red Sea, in response to Washington’s daily attacks against Yemen.
“In response to the US aggression against our country, the naval forces, missile forces, and drone air forces of our armed forces targeted enemy warships in the Red Sea, led by the US aircraft carrier Truman, with a number of cruise missiles and drones,” the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) said in a statement early on Wednesday.
It was the third operation against the USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships in 24 hours, according to the statement.
The YAF announcement came shortly after a fresh round of US airstrikes on Yemen.
US warplanes launched two airstrikes on Kamaran Island off the coast of Hodeidah, western Yemen, after midnight.
Kamaran is the largest Yemeni island in the Red Sea.
Sixty-one people have been killed and 139 wounded by US attacks on Yemen since mid-March, the Yemeni Health Ministry says. The toll includes women and children.
The US bombing of Yemen started in January 2024, at the height of the YAF’s campaign of pro-Palestine naval operations against Israeli-linked shipping. It has now been renewed with severe intensity under US President Donald Trump’s administration following Sanaa’s vow to reimpose the naval blockade on Israel.
Yemen also restarted missile and drone attacks on Israel after the renewal of the war on Gaza, and has vowed to continue responding to Washington’s attacks with operations targeting US warships in the Red Sea.
The daily airstrikes carried out by the US Air Force against Yemen, the Arab World’s poorest nation, are exacerbating a decade-long humanitarian catastrophe that the country faces.
“Now the rampant bombing has started, you never know which way things will go,” Siddiq Khan, the Islamic Relief charity’s country director, told The Guardian on 2 April.
“Overall, there has been a gradual but then sharp kind of decline in humanitarian aid to Yemen. Obviously, many organizations are kind of downsizing and some have closed as well. The bombings have further scared the organizations here about whether this will be the right place to stay and work. So overall, there’s a huge vacuum … taking over the humanitarian sector here,” Khan said.
“I see a real catastrophe coming Yemen’s way,” he added. Also affecting the crisis is the US government’s recent foreign aid cuts.
Another aid worker who wished to remain anonymous told The Guardian that the pressure humanitarian teams are currently under has negatively affected the ability to help those who are in need.
Yemen was plunged into a severe famine and continued for years to face a crippling food security crisis after the start of the Saudi-led war against the country that began in 2015.
https://thecradle.co/articles/yemen-tak ... ian-crisis
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Western Circles Acknowledge the Impossibility of Defeating Yemenis and the Growing American Losses and Failures
Posted by Internationalist 360° on April 1, 2025
Ansarollah
Despite the American campaign described by the Trump administration as “incredibly successful,” the Wall Street Journal reports that it has failed to achieve its primary goal of deterring the Yemenis. The newspaper pointed to the continued missile operations targeting the Israeli entity and the disruption of Zionist commercial ships in the Red Sea as evidence of this failure.
An American defense official attributed the failure of the campaign to the growing capabilities of the Yemenis, placing the blame on alleged Iranian support.
The newspaper admitted that despite the American airstrikes targeting leadership and strategic positions in Sanaa and Saada, they have not been sufficient to achieve deterrence, especially when the Yemenis have endured eight years of bombardment by the Saudi-led coalition.
Observers noted that although American tactics have become more coordinated, they continue to ignore previous lessons, asserting the impossibility of defeating the Yemenis through air raids alone, particularly given their hidden infrastructure in rugged mountainous areas and the popular support that may increase due to civilian casualties.
The Lowy Institute stated that the recent American strikes are more of a performance than an effective measure to curb ship attacks, describing them as a continuation of a flawed approach to dealing with the Yemeni issue. The institute also emphasized that the Yemenis remain resilient in the face of the American campaign, while the determination of the Houthis appears strong as well.
The institute elaborated on some Yemeni operations, highlighting a remarkable incident in which Yemeni forces launched missiles in broad daylight, targeting the American aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman and the Zionist entity’s Ben Gurion Airport. The report described the attack as bold, not only embarrassing the Western defense arsenal but also exposing the falsity of American claims of being able to decisively deter the Yemenis.
The report also cited Sayyid al-Houthi’s remarks, where he pointed out that “aggression only increases our determination,” previously warning: “America thinks its bombs intimidate us, but it forgets that we have endured eight years under the fire of an international coalition… and this experience has led to the improvement and development of our capabilities. Today, they are repeating the same mistake.”
The writer addressed the failure of the Zionist air defense systems and the subsequent deployment of American “THAAD” defense systems to reassure the Israeli side and counter Yemeni missiles. The report noted that the American system dealt with two Yemeni missiles, which were intercepted before entering Israeli airspace. In the aftermath of the attack, images emerged showing debris—particularly rocket boosters—believed to belong to the THAAD missile defense system, according to the institute’s report.
Critically, the writer pointed out that America, which spent billions on air and naval strikes, struggles to comprehend the Yemeni mindset. Every time its aircraft destroy a site, the Yemenis emerge from the rubble to announce a “new facility,” and each time a commander is claimed to be eliminated, dozens more appear. Even the civilian casualties caused by indiscriminate strikes have turned into fuel for popular anger, bolstering the Houthis’ legitimacy as defenders of the land in the eyes of millions of Yemenis.
The writer concluded that the recent American strikes on Yemeni army targets are likely to prove more of a display than an effective effort to reduce ship attacks, reiterating that such strikes represent a continuation of the flawed approach to dealing with the “downstream problem” while attempting to justify American failure by attributing it to what they term Iranian support. According to the writer, this support is said to have started during the Biden administration, and he emphasized that the Houthi missile threat cannot be resolved without addressing the “source” and adopting new strategies to challenge what he called the Houthis’ control and resilience on the ground.
The Spectator magazine focused on the growing Yemeni missile capabilities, asserting in its report titled “The Houthi Threat Will Not Vanish” that recent Yemeni missile operations demonstrate that they continue to pose a credible missile threat in the region, even as the United States expands its efforts to reduce their missile production and deployment capabilities.
A well-known American military website Military revealed that the U.S. Navy is working to reduce the high costs of countering Yemeni drones by equipping naval destroyers with two new experimental systems, “Roadrunner” and “Coyote,” scheduled for deployment later this summer.
The website quoted Admiral Daryl Caudle, a commander in the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, who recently announced that the Ford carrier group would be deployed with two additional missile systems on the destroyers, specifically designed to intercept drones.
The website also highlighted the significant costs incurred by the U.S. Navy in combating Yemeni drones over the past fifteen months, leading to growing criticism. It pointed out that the American confrontation with Yemeni forces at sea has cost Washington half a billion dollars in missiles during that period, including the launch of 220 missiles, 120 of which were the SM-2 type, each costing around $2 million. Some of the more modern missiles used to intercept Houthi rockets cost as much as $28 million per missile, according to naval reports.
The site indicated that the U.S. Navy is testing laser weapons as a future solution, though its efforts in this area have not yet achieved tangible success.
It concluded that the primary goal of these U.S. steps is to preserve missile stockpiles for larger future battles, a stockpile significantly depleted in the confrontation with Yemeni forces during the naval conflict.
The Australian Lowy Institute for Strategic Studies published a detailed report on naval confrontations in the Red Sea, examining how the Yemeni army has responded to attacks targeting them and the consequences of these confrontations.
The report, prepared by researcher Mark O’Neill, noted that “the Yemeni armed forces have demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of US and allied strikes,” explaining that “previous bombing operations, whether carried out by the Biden administration or the recent strikes approved by the Trump administration, have not led to decisive results.”
It noted that Washington and its allies launched “Operation Guardian of Prosperity” in December 2023, with the participation of ten countries, with the aim of protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. These measures were not sufficiently deterrent to prevent the continuation of Yemeni attacks.
Regarding US strikes in Yemen, the report sees them as a “whack-a-mole” strategy, whereby Houthi positions are targeted without any real impact on undermining their military capabilities. Regarding Iran’s role, the report explains that “the Houthis have become a regional player with their own independent agenda.”
A Decade of “Operation Decisive Storm”: Recycling Failure in Yemen
As ten years have passed since the launch of the American-Saudi aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, an important question arises: What have the enemies achieved through this relentless campaign?
Before delving into the results of this war, it is essential to highlight several key points:
First, the aggression, launched under the name “Operation Decisive Storm,” was announced from Washington with full American sponsorship, blessing, and support. However, the circumstances at the time did not allow the U.S. to overtly lead the coalition, so it resorted to a “leading from behind” strategy, entrusting the task to its vengeful Saudi proxy, along with numerous countries that rushed to join the coalition.
Second, at the time of the aggression, Yemen posed no threat to its regional or international neighbors. The leadership of the revolution consistently sent reassurances, emphasizing Yemen’s commitment to equal and sovereign relations with all nations. However, Saudi Arabia— which had long treated Yemen as its backyard— lost its influence with the victory of the September 21, 2014 Revolution. Similarly, the Americans were humiliatingly expelled from Sana’a on February 11, 2015, just weeks before the brutal aggression began.
Third, and most crucially, the real fear of the U.S., the Israeli enemy, and Saudi Arabia was the emergence of a new Yemen— one that regained control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait and restored its maritime sovereignty. This posed a serious concern for these powers, who saw Yemen as a threat to shipping routes through Bab al-Mandab. Their objective was to eliminate this perceived danger before it materialized. However, the events of the war have proven otherwise— Yemen’s leadership has safeguarded this vital maritime corridor and has not used it as leverage, despite the crippling blockade that has inflicted severe economic and humanitarian consequences on the country.
From the outset, Saudi Arabia’s justifications for the aggression collapsed one after another. The war was never about restoring what it called “legitimacy”— as evident from its house arrest of Hadi once it realized he had become a burden and a lost cause. Nor was it about protecting Arab national security, as evidenced by the unchecked Israeli dominance over the region while Arab rulers remained silent.
A War Driven by Foreign Interests
It is now clear that this war was orchestrated to serve American and Israeli agendas, carried out recklessly by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with participation from other Gulf states— except Oman. The primary goal was to crush the September 21 Revolution and restore Saudi and American hegemony over Yemen. Yet, each coalition member pursued its own interests through the war.
For instance, the United States sought to protect its regional interests, secure Red Sea shipping lanes, and ensure the safety of Israeli maritime trade. Under the guise of UAE involvement, Washington established military bases on the island of Socotra to gain a strategic foothold for a potential confrontation with China in the future.
As for Saudi Arabia, its ambitions in Al-Mahrah Governorate were never a secret. It aimed to construct an oil pipeline through the region to the Arabian Sea and build a port to bypass the Hormuz Strait. Meanwhile, the UAE’s participation was driven by its desire to cripple Aden’s port, fearing its revival would threaten the dominance of Emirati ports. Additionally, the UAE’s military presence along Yemen’s coasts and islands primarily serves Israeli and American interests.
It can be said that the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the Zionist enemy were the biggest beneficiaries of this war and of any defeat of Ansar Allah. Other coalition members participated for separate motives:
Sudan sought to mend ties with Saudi Arabia in exchange for financial aid.
Egypt had its own interests at stake.
Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar joined merely to appease Saudi Arabia.
Only Oman stood apart with an honorable stance, distancing itself from the coalition. While it continued to recognize Mansur Hadi, it maintained balanced relations with all parties.
A Shocking Failure
The aggressor states were confident of a swift victory— believing the war would last only a few weeks or months. Yet, the course of events defied all expectations.
The Yemeni people displayed unparalleled resilience. Even when the daily airstrikes reached up to 200 bombings per day, they did not waver but instead intensified their determination to fight. The army and popular committees were formed from humble beginnings, yet with high morale, unwavering faith in Allah, and absolute trust in Sayyid Abdul-Malik Badruldeen al-Houthi, they stood united like a beehive, demonstrating remarkable endurance and defiance.
During the first five years, the coalition seemed to have the upper hand— relying on barbaric massacres against civilians and territorial gains in some provinces. However, the tide turned against them. Yemen’s development of ballistic missile capabilities and drone technology allowed it to deliver devastating blows to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, shifting the momentum in Yemen’s favor.
This forced the coalition to agree to a ceasefire on April 2, 2022, after precise missile strikes targeted Saudi and Emirati oil facilities, demonstrating Yemen’s ability to strike deep inside enemy territory.
A Decade Later: Yemen Leads the Resistance
Today, the divine victory of Yemen is evident. A decade after the launch of Operation Decisive Storm, Yemen has emerged as a leader in the Arab and Islamic world, standing at the forefront of the fight against the Zionist enemy in support of Gaza’s oppressed people.
The once-besieged Yemen now enforces a siege on the Israeli entity. Furthermore, Yemen has displayed unprecedented boldness by targeting U.S. aircraft carriers— a move no nation has dared since World War II.
Now, the true face of the war is exposed— what began as a Saudi-led aggression is now an open American war, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE unable to intervene or provide support.
Yet, Saudi Arabia continues to stall and resists a comprehensive resolution to the conflict. However, Yemen’s patience will not last forever. The Saudi regime risks losing a historic opportunity to embrace peace. Should it fail to act, it will face severe Yemeni retaliation, for the crimes committed against Yemen can never be forgotten or forgiven.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2025/04/ ... -failures/
To Houthi Courage!
Posted by Internationalist 360° on April 1, 2025
Aristarch
In Yemen, there is more of Trump’s “peace through strength” policy being carried, for all the world to see.
Yemen, a small country and one of the poorest in the Arab world, is doing all it can to stop Israel from carrying on its genocide of the Palestinians.
The United States and all of the West, both of which claim for themselves the label of “civilized,” supply the weapons and the cash to help Israel get the killing done more efficiently.
And then the United States, with everything it has, is attacking Yemen—to make sure it cannot stop Israel’s genocide. What a twisted world we live in! From this we are to understand that when the West carps on about “our values,” this must include genocide. Killing massive numbers of people, mostly women and children, is part of Western “morality.”
It used to be that Americans always stood up for the little guy. Not Trump.
The policy and approach of Yemen is simple and logical—use geography to best advantage and control the Red Sea, so no ship supplying Israel can get through. Without supplies, Israel is a lame/dead duck. In fact, Yemen has severely damaged, even crippled, Israel. Hence, America’s fury. And Yemen says that it will stop the blockade as soon as Israel stops killing Palestinians. In fact, it did just that when Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
Actually, the Houthi attacks have inflicted significant economic damage on Israel by disrupting trade, increasing costs, straining defense systems, and prompting emigration, while also creating broader global economic repercussions.
Cleverly, the Houthi have targeted shipping routes in the Red Sea, a critical passage for global trade. This has led to a slowdown in traffic through the Suez Canal, driving up the cost of goods and affecting Israel’s import-dependent economy. The Israeli port of Eilat has been largely inactive, forcing goods to be rerouted to Mediterranean ports like Haifa and Ashdod, which has increased transportation costs and consumer prices.
Israel has reported several monthly budget deficits exceeding the government’s target of 6.6 percent of GDP due to the economic strain from the attacks. The consumer price index reached its highest level since October 2023 in August, reflecting the inflationary pressures caused by the disruptions. Additionally, Israel’s ambition to become a regional hub for liquefied natural gas production has suffered a setback because of the complications and expenses associated with accommodating large tankers at its ports.
So far, the Houthis have launched over 200 ballistic missiles and 170 drones at Israeli targets, severely testing Israel’s defense capabilities. Although many attacks have been intercepted, the sheer volume and sophistication of the assaults have strained Israel’s air defense systems, including the much-vaunted Iron Dome. This has led to increased military expenditures and a focus on countering the threat, further impacting the economy.
The extended military operations and economic pressures have prompted thousands of middle-class Israelis, including skilled professionals, to emigrate. This represents an additional cost of the conflict, as it leads to a brain drain and further economic instability.
The Houthi campaign has not only affected Israel but also created global economic disruptions. The attacks have led to expensive detours for shipping, increased supply chain costs, and a selective strategy that disproportionately affects countries with links to Israel, such as those in the EU and Egypt.
Most important of all— Israel’s reliance on maritime trade has been exposed as a strategic vulnerability, about which Israel can do nothing, other than to get the USA to bomb.
But what about the United States?
To begin with, the United States has been fighting Yemen for over a decade, with its military engagement intensifying in 2015. The U.S. initially launched a counterterrorism campaign against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen in the early 2010s, following the attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in 2009 by AQAP. In March 2015, the U.S. began providing logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition’s military operations against the Houthis, marking a significant escalation in its involvement. Despite President Biden’s announcement in 2021 to end “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen,” the U.S. continued to provide defensive support, including logistical and intelligence assistance. In this decade long war on Yemen, the U.S. has failed spectacularly.
And most conveniently, few now seem to/want to remember Operation Prosperity Guardian.
This was a U.S.-led multinational naval coalition launched in December 2023 to secure maritime trade routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Twenty countries sent their brightest and the best to finally finish off Yemen—and got their proverbial backsides handed to them. It was yet another spectacular failure.
But for the Trump camp, this failure is easily explained—Prosperity Guardian failed because, well, because Biden was involved. But now that Trump is again attacking Yemen, there will be final victory, because Trump is the greatest commander-in-chief in the history of the galaxy and for all eternity. No human being can ever again be more brilliant in military matters than Trump. Ergo, the Houthis are toast.
But recalling that wise adage, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people,” few seem to want to remember that Trump was going to finish off the Houthis during his try as president—from 2017 through to 2020, he was in constant war with Yemen. And got his backside handed to him. We do not know how much all this cost (likely billions), and a large number of civilians were killed—again, we do not know how many because the U.S. will not release such figures, especially of how many civilians it kills in its many international misadventures.
But it seems that Trump learned nothing in those years of bombing the Houthis, because he is back trying it again. All indications say that he failed yet again.
So far, the Houthis have shot down 10 Reaper Drones, each of which costs anywhere from $30 million to $50 million. These drones are the most sophisticated tech that the U.S. has, and yet these “goat-herders,” as Senator Tom Cotton calls the Yemenis, can easily shoot them down. They’re quite good at it, actually. The USA admits to only two drones being shot down. Who are you going to believe?
And the Houthis are also firing drones and missiles at the USS Harry S. Truman, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which Trump has sent down. There is only problem. The carrier has a The Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) is a modular, below-deck missile launcher. Once the VLS is empty, it cannot be reloaded at sea due to several design and operational limitations. It has to be taken to the nearest port and reloaded. And this likely why the USS Carl Vinson has been sent in, because it has the VLS; the logic being that Truman and go to port and get reloaded, while Vinson covers up. The Houthis, no doubt, know this well.
The Americans who like to scoff at “goat herders” seem not to understand a crucial point. The Houthis are a highly sophisticated military force, capable of challenging powerful nations like the USA. Their military prowess stems from years of conflict, strategic alliances, and advanced weaponry. They are also dismissed as “Iranian proxies,” which is far from the truth. Although they have Iran’s support, they act independently, and get much of their arms supplies from others (such as China).
In fact, while Trump 45 was busy fighting them, by 2017, the Houthis demonstrated the ability to independently launch medium-range ballistic missiles like the Burkan-2H. This suggests that they developed operational autonomy in missile deployment. The Houthis have manufactured drones such as the Qasef-1. These drones have been used extensively. The evolution of the Houthi arms industry highlights their transition from reliance on external support to a more independent war machine capable of sustaining prolonged conflict.
Most important of all, the Houthis have mastered asymmetrical warfare. For example, they deploy armed drones worth a few hundred dollars against expensive Patriot interceptors costing over $1 million each. This asymmetry has made their counterattacks increasingly effective, and thus devastating for the Americans, and their proxies, the Saudis.
This is the reason why the Houthis are not easily intimated by American attacks, and the air raids that Trump is conducting on them are war crimes, because of the high number of civilians being killed. American bombs are never precise.
The Yemenis will win, because they stand against the most horrific crime of our times—the genocide of the Palestinians by the Israelis.
One of the smallest and the poorest countries is now the moral center of the world, doing all it can to stop the genocide of the Palestinians. The world is seeing such, crimes, killings and torture by the IDF again on social media, enabled by the might of the United States. This scream comes because the killing of Palestinians is widely understood as the collusion of Israel and the United States.
Perhaps Trump should read the story of David and Goliath, despite his Vice President’s prayer for “victory.”
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2025/04/ ... i-courage/
أحمد حسن زيد (@Ahmed_hassan_za) April 14, 2025
