US Strikes Houthi Rebels In Yemen

Admin Fri 14 Oct 2016, 5:52 pm

US Strikes Houthi Rebels In Yemen
TOPICS:Best Conservative News SourceIran Backed RebelsMissile AttacksR L GrimesUniversalfreepress.ComYemen War
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Overnight, a U.S. Naval vessel launched Tomahawk cruise missiles that destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The attack was in response to the missiles that were fired at U.S. warships on two occasions in the last five days, the Pentagon said. The strikes were a major escalation of US involvement in the Yemen Civil War, and marked the first shots fired by the US in anger against the Iran-backed Houthis Rebels in Yemen’s long-running civil war. Officials haven’t provided information on casualties from the US retaliatory strike which was carried out early Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, sources said that Iran has deployed two warships to the Gulf of Aden, the same area where several US ships are operating. This move by the Iranians establishes a military presence at one of the world’s most vital shipping routes, Reuters reported. According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Iran sent the ships “to protect trade vessels from piracy,” Tasnim reported.
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Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said President Barack Obama authorized the strikes at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford. He added that these were limited self-defense strikes conducted to protect U.S. personnel, ships and freedom of navigation. Cook said that the missiles were fired from the U.S.S. Nitze launched the missiles at targets identified as taking part in the attacks on Sunday and Wednesday’s attacks on two US Naval vessels.
Meanwhile, the state news agency Saba— under Houthis’ control— quoted an unnamed military official as saying that U.S. accusations that a U.S. destroyer had come under attack from areas under control of Houthis were false. He said, “All these claims are totally untrue and that the popular committees (Houthi militias) have nothing to do with such action. Such claims are part of the general context of creating false justifications to escalate assaults and cover up the continuous crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people, along with the blockade imposed on it, and after the increasing condemnations to such barbaric and hideous crimes against Yemenis.”
Sharaf loqman, spokesman for the Yemeni army, called it an “American farce to find a reason to interfere in Yemen directly after failure of the Saudis.” He said that the army never targets ships outside the territorial waters and only those that enter the Yemeni waters come under attack.
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But Wednesday, a US official confirmed that another missile was fired from Houthi-held territory in Yemen targeting the USS Mason. The warship was not hit and there were no injuries. But that incident Wednesday evening unfolded not far from where two missiles were fired at the USS Mason and the USS Ponce on Sunday.
The missile attacks came on the heels of two other attacks against Saudi sites. A ballistic missile fired from Yemen apparently targeted a Saudi air base near the Muslim holy city of Mecca, the deepest strike yet into the kingdom by Shiite rebels and their allies. The rebels fired another two missiles into the Saudi Jizan region along the border on Monday, wounding two foreigners who worked there, the local civil defense said in a statement. The Houthis and their allies have offered no reason for the launches, though they came after a Saudi-led airstrike targeting a funeral in Yemen’s capital killed more than 140 people and wounded 525 on Saturday.
The U.S. cruise missile launches come as the US considers withdrawing its support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis following Saturday’s airstrike on the funeral and other troubling incidents of civilian casualties as a result of the Saudi bombing campaign. Human rights groups have expressed outrage over the deaths and accused the US of complicity, leading the White House to say it was conducting a “review” to ensure U.S. cooperation with longtime partner Saudi Arabia is in line with “U.S. principles, values and interests.”
The last missile attack on a U.S. Naval ship was on the USS Stark in May 1987. The ship was in the middle of a six-month patrol in the Persian Gulf when it was hit by two missiles fired from an Iraqi fighter plane. A total of 37 sailors were killed during the attack.
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Reuters News contributed to this report.