US Warplanes Pound Houthi Terrorist Camps in Yemen as SecDef Hegseth Promises More;
Trump Warns Iran

Trump ordered the airstrikes after coming in from a round of golf:

Iran-backed terrorists and scumbag pirates in Yemen have been attacking shipping attempting to navigate the Red Sea.

The Houthi rebels attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January this year. Their leadership described the attacks as aiming to end the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The campaign also greatly raised the Houthis' profile in the wider Arab world and tamped down on public criticism against their human rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent and aid workers.

Trump, writing on his social media platform Truth Social, said his administration targeted the Houthis over their "unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence and terrorism." He noted the disruption Houthi attacks have caused through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, key waterways for energy and cargo shipments between Asia and Europe through Egypt's Suez Canal.

"We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective," Trump said.

This is important, because if the Red Sea passage becomes any more unusual, global shipping will be disrupted and made much slower and more expensive:

Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. and the United Kingdom began a series of airstrikes against the Houthis starting in January 2024. A December report by The International Institute for Strategic Studies said the U.S. and its partners struck the Houthis over 260 times up to that point.

U.S. military officials during that period acknowledged having a far-wider target list for possible strikes. While the Biden administration didn't go too far into explaining its targeting, analysts believe officials largely were trying to avoid civilian casualties and not rekindle Yemen's stalemated war, which pits the Houthis and their allies against the country's exiled government and their local and international allies, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Trump administration, however, appears willing to go after more targets, based on the weekend's strikes and public remarks made by officials.

"We're doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News' "Face The Nation" on Sunday. "That's the mission here, and it will continue until that's carried out."

Rubio added: "Some of the key people involved in those missile launches are no longer with us, and I can tell you that some of the facilities that they used are no longer existing, and that will continue."

Israel also launched its own airstrikes on Houthi-held sites, including the port city of Hodeida, over the rebels' missile and drone attacks targeting Israel.

National Security Advisor Waltz confirmed the elimination of Houthi terror leaders.

National security adviser Mike Waltz confirmed on Sunday that U.S. airstrikes "took out" multiple Houthi leaders in attacks this weekend.

Asked how the U.S. attacks this weekend differ from strikes under the Biden administration, Waltz said those "back-and-forth" strikes "ultimately proved to be feckless attacks."

"This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out," Waltz said in an interview on ABC News's "This Week."

"And the difference here is, one, going after the Houthi leadership and, two, holding Iran responsible," he continued.

Waltz stressed the negative consequences that the Houthis have had on global commerce.

"It is Iran that has repeatedly funded, resourced, trained and helped the Houthis target not only U.S. warships, but global commerce, and has helped the Houthis shut down two of the world's most strategic sea lanes," Waltz said, noting nearly three-quarters of global shipping "is now diverting around southern Africa, adding to the cost of goods, disrupting global economies, adding to -- or shutting off supplies to the United States."

Hegseth declared that Old Joe Biden is no longer president and America would no longer "be nice" to terrorists.

Hegseth also promised "this isn't a one-night thing" and that the airstrikes would continue until Iran's terror proxies stopped attacking ships and American assets.

This isn't a one-night thing. This will continue until you say, 'We're done shooting at ships.'"

American strength hath returned.

U.S. forces hammered Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis again overnight, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowing on Sunday an "unrelenting" campaign to crush their Red Sea shipping attacks--already claiming 53 lives, per Houthi reports--until they fold.

Hegseth told Fox News:

"We don't want a long, limited war in the Middle East. We don't care what happens in the Yemeni civil war. This is about stopping the shooting at assets in that critical waterway to reopen freedom of navigation which is a core national interest of the United States."

"Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long. They better back off."

Trump issued a warning to Iran: From this moment forward, every rocket or bullet fired by the Iran-armed, Iran-directed Houthis will be considered to have been fired by Iran itself.

LOL, obviously:

Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby

BREAKING: Amnesty International has declared a genocide in Yemen, not after the Houthis murdered 300,00 people, but after the U.S. struck Houthi terror infrastructure.

posted by Ace at 02:17 PM

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