LOS ANGELES.–U.S. hit Yemen’s Houthi rebels again yesterday for firing rockets on U.S. and allied flagged ships in the Red Sea. Houthi rebels are part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance,” a fake network of Shiite terrorist groups professing their hatred of Israel. Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi promised retaliation for the U.S. and British attacks, promising he would not stop attacks on maritime shipping. Al-Houthi says his attacks are Houthi’s response to the ongoing Israeli-Hamas War win Gaza, where Hamas terrorists slaughtered Oct. 7, 2023 some 1,200 Israeli citizens, many teenagers and young adults at a Negev music festival near the Gaza border. Hamas terrorists also seized another 260 Isralis and other hostages, seeking concessions from the United States and Israel to buy their release. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas Oct. 7.
New air strikes against Houthis has had little effect of dissuading al-Houthi from continuing to attack maritime shipping, already having an effect on world markets. Tesla Motors Berlin announced that it would stop production in late January to catch-up with supply chain disruptions because of Houthi attacks on maritime shipping. Tesla fears that rerouting ships around the Cape of House would add to the cost of delivery by over $1 million per shipment. President Joe Biden, 81, ordered over 60 attacks Jan. 11 on Houthi targets with Cruise missiles and smart bombs. Yesterday’s attacks struck another 18 targets with submarine-based Cruise missiles, attempting to interrupt recent Houthi attacks on Marshall-Islands flagged U.S.-owned cargo ship Chem Ranger. Biden said the attacks would continue until Houths stopped hitting maritime shipping.
Houthi rebels struck another American flagged Genco Picardy was attacked yesterday near the Gulf of Aden just south of Yemen. U.S. and British forces claim they hit military airports, radar installations and storage and launch sites for drones and missiles, despite seeing no let up in Houthi attacks. Biden has confined his attacks to Houthi sites in Yemen, not going after Iran’s 84-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei often denounces Israel to align with Sunni Islamic groups, frequently at odds with Shiites. Khamenei operates on “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” making a phony pledge against Israel when Iran is often targeted by Sunni terrorists like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] AKA the Islamic State. On Jan. 3, ISIS struck a memorial commemoration of the late Al Quds Gen. Oassem Soleimani, killed by a U.S. drone strike Jan. 3, 2020.
Embarrassed by the Sunni attack killing 100 and injuring hundred more by ISIS suicide bombers, Khameni immediately blamed Israel. Every major news outlet, broadcast and print, reported that the attack was from ISIS suicide bombers. Khamenei can’t fathom the fact the Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh said Sept. 7, 2016 that “Iranians were not Muslims.” So, Khamenei creates his fake “axis of resistance” to prove to Sunni Muslims that Shiites embrace their cause of destroying Israel. In reality, most Sunni states, especially Egypt and the Gulf States, have made peace with Israel and no longer want war. In fact, most of Gaza’s donors no longer want to pay for Gaza’s reconstruction after starting another futile war with Israel. However Gaza gets rebuilt in the future, the cash may have to come from somewhere other than Dubai and Riyadh.
Biden has engaged in more throwaway missile attacks, avoiding the inevitable of targeting the Ayatollah’s mullah regime. Khemenei funds local terror groups, Hamas in Gaza, Ketaib Hezbollah in Iraq, Hezollah in Lebanon, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels to do its dirty work. Biden hasn’t faced the music that the only way to stop Houthis from interfering with maritime shipping in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf or Gulf of Oman is going directly after Tehran. U.S. elected officials know that Iran is the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism. Unless Biden goes after Iran, the Houthi attacks will continue unabated. “These strikes will continue as long as they need to continue,” said National Security Spokesman John Kirby. “I’m not going to telegraph punches one way or another,” Kirby said, not saying whether the U.S. and its allies would strike Iran directly.
Biden has run out of options to assure uninterrupted shipping in international waterways in the Mideast and Horn of Africa. Somali pirates once menaced maritime shipping until the global community stood up to the lawlessness. No one in the Mideast commits more criminal acts than the mullah-controlled Islamic Republic of Iran. Not only are they enriching uranium at a furious pace, they arm-and-pay various terror groups to attack the U.S. and its allies around the Mideast and Horn of Africa. Unless Biden deals directly with Tehran, he won’t discourage the Ayatollah’s network of terror groups from attacking international shipping in open seas. Time is running out for Biden to show he can do something right on U.S. foreign policy and national security. So far, Biden’s throwaway missile attacks have done nothing to deter the Ayatollah from continuing his state-sponsored terrorism.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
