The Times of Israel: The Houthis succeeded in hiding their weapons and US strikes failed
The Times of Israel newspaper said, that the Houthis succeeded in hiding their weapons and made the task difficult for American forces and intelligence agencies, and the threat in the Red Sea still exists.
US officials admitted to the New York Times that they had great difficulty finding Houthi sites to target.
It seems that the Houthis succeeded in hiding most of their weapons, which were mounted on mobile carriers.
They are still capable of threatening global shipping in the Red Sea.
US officials also admitted that the military strikes targeted 60 targets in 28 locations with difficulty; That is, the strikes affected only 20% of the Houthis’ offensive capabilities.
The weapons used by the United States and its ally Britain included air-to-air missiles from Super Hornet 18 F/A aircraft based on the aircraft carrier Eisenhower, Tomahawk missiles from the naval destroyers USS Gravely and USS Mason, and the naval cruiser USS Philippine, and a US submarine.
With the strikes ineffective and the Houthis’ capabilities remaining intact, according to Western officials, it’s unclear whether global shipping companies will feel safe again when using the waterway, especially after the Houthis vowed to avenge the killing of at least five people and the wounding of six others.
“I know we have degraded capabilities, but I think the Houthis will not be able to carry out attacks in the same way they carried out the January 9 attack,” the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff admitted on Saturday, referring to a missile and drone attack carried out by the Houthis on January 9.
White House spokesman John Kirby said, “The strikes harmed the Houthis’ ability to store, launch, and direct missiles or drone”.
The reason for the difficulty of finding targets may be the lack of sufficient data on Yemen, as it wasn’t a priority for the US administration.
