Red Sea updates
Leading off, seems that 9 nation task force patrolling the Red Sea against errant missiles, pirates etc. is a bit larger than was originally reported.
So far, 19 nations have signed onto what has been dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), instead of the initial nine that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin introduced on Monday, Lara Seligman of Politico reported. That’s because most of the nations don’t want to go public, she reported, citing a senior administration official.
It is kind of understandable – if a country is big enough to have a Navy, no doubt they are big enough to buy oil – and we’ve seen how tenuous a connection to Israel is considered ‘attackable’ by the Houthis. Participating to help safeguard shipping while keeping a low profile is probably as good as it gets.
Also saw a good response to the “why don’t we just blow the Houthis to kingdom come” question.
The blanket notion of ‘hitting them back’ includes a huge spectrum of potential responses. These range from reactive, proportional responses to much more comprehensive and prolonged campaigns, with various velocities of escalation that can be overlaid on such operations.
Well, BTDT (been there, done that), right?
The entire region is on extreme edge. Iran and its Hezbollah proxies in Lebanon have not yet entered the Israel-Hamas conflict with full force, but there is still the possibility they might. Attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria are also already a near-daily occurrence. The Houthis alone have the ability to drastically increase attacks on U.S. forces in the region, but more on that in a moment.
So, on the one hand, one could argue that a kinetic response is exactly what the Houthis and their Iranian backers desperately want. It very well could be that they want to get the U.S. directly involved and mired in a facet of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Houthis have a massive and diverse long-range arsenal that has evolved significantly over the better part of a decade of conflict with the Saudi-led coalition. A major U.S. installation sits just across the strait, less than 100 miles from Yemen, in the form of Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.
There are other fairly vital locations in the area, too, and as is pointed out, constantly dodging barrages of incoming would be, ah, inconvenient.
Politico mentions something which is relevant, too. We are very proud of all these drones and low-end missiles we are shooting down, and we’ve racked up an impressive tally.
U.S. Navy destroyers have shot down 38 drones and multiple missiles in the Red Sea over the past two months, according to a Defense Department official, as the Iran-backed militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels moving energy and oil through the world’s most vital shipping lanes. On Saturday alone, the destroyer USS Carney intercepted 14 one-way attack drones.
The cost of using expensive naval missiles — which can run up to $2.1 million a shot — to destroy unsophisticated Houthi drones — estimated at a few thousand dollars each — is a growing concern, according to three other DOD officials. Politico
Given that the Iranians seem to be pulling all the strings in the area to the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and any other H-guys, you have to wonder whether some smart mullah noted the resupply issues with Ukraine and the deterioration of our supply system. “Ya know, they shoot enough of those zillion dollar long-replacement missiles, we can bleed their stocks down to next to nothing – for peanuts”, safely knowing we can’t build replacements as fast as we use them.
Category: Defense cuts, Gaza 2023, Iran
Amazing how restraint the west has been, so far, with a country attacking shipping in international waters and shutting down a major trade route.
And how fast they were to go to war in the Ukraine, Iraq, Libya, Syria…etc with such flimsy reasons.
The West didn’t go to war in the Ukraine. If they had, the reasons would hardly be flimsy.
$200 billion in military aid, advisors, fighting mercenaries, training up Brigades on NATO bases, delivery of vast amounts of advanced wespons, early warnings, stripping NATO stocks bare, paymaster of the entire Ukrainian military, high level and daily intel, daily targeting, planning of campaigns, troops stationed in Ukraine for eight years, repair depots on NATO soil, seizing assets without law/due process and destroying pipelines in international waters…
Out of curiosity…what would you call it? Gender Affirming Healthcare?
I find it curious as to why we are throwing money at Ukraine ( I know why) who is not an ally,, and not a peep about civilians being killed and having a cease fire be demanded, yet our one ally in the middle east is made to dance for their supper as it were.
I’m open to hear explanations/opinions.
If we were doing this right, every time an Iranian proxy shot at us, the Iranians would lose an expensive military asset.
“Where did that destroyer go? It can’t have just vanished!”
The quiet nations joining the effort SELL oil, not buy it. This has long been the case when they assist the US but the optics are bad locally.
This whole mess can be cleaned up with a single demonstration round.
But that would take lesdership with balls.
Yep! Until a bully gets a bloody nose, he will continue his nefarious activities. When oh when will we have a strongly worded letter and a line drawn in the Red Sea?
Canned sunshine anyone?
Does anybody think anywhere in the world that another nation/terrorist organization is afraid of the Biden Regime. The feeble old pedophile has been WRONG on every single foreign policy decision he’s ever been involved.
I was told he was improving and repairing our relationships around the world. Yet strangely everyone seems to hate us more than ever.
Because he doesn’t understand righty tighty lefty losey concept.
And his internal policy decisions have been stellar too!
He called near-half the country “terrorists light” (link).
I am an Extremist in the fight against democracy, like any real American, regardless of the consequences of my life, fortune or sacred honor.
He should have is mouth washed out with soap for daring to speak of “republic” (image).
Guess that makes me an enemy, and if that be the case, I ain’t scared neither.
Get some!
P.S. Well, that’s how it should be (screw with the bull, get the horns) but it’ll probably be so centralized/bureaucratic stuff will take days to get hit.
Military operations by committee, watch.
“why don’t we just blow the Houthis to kingdom come?”
Just drop a nuke on ’em. Those things hit their intended targets 100% of the time.
If they insist…
