Tag: Business News

A game of cat and mouse is being played with Houthi forces on the American aircraft carrier.

Houthi forces play a game of mouse and cat with America 

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) transits the Arabian Sea on June 12, 2020.
US Navy photo

On the USS Eisenhower, in the Red Sea—one by one, more than two dozen aircraft—Navy F/A-18 fighter jets, E/A18 Growler radar jammers, E2 Hawkeye reconnaissance aircraft, as well as helicopters and tankers—decked the decks. were roaring from The aircraft carrier will carry out joint US-British strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthis on Saturday night.
It was the second night in a row that Eisenhower planes targeted Houthi forces in Yemen who have been attacking cargo ships in the Red Sea. Earlier in the day, a nearby destroyer, the USS Gravely, fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Houthis.
Sailors from another nearby destroyer, the USS Mason, demonstrated the quick decision-making required to shoot down incoming Houthi missiles before they could attack cargo ships or U.S. warships.
NBC News is currently the only news organization embedded with the US Navy in the Red Sea while it conducts attacks.
Despite the threat of incoming drones or ballistic missiles from the Houthis, the adrenaline and morale of crew members on both U.S. ships appears to be high. As the Eisenhower, Mason and accompanying battleships patrol the area, the weather is brisk and warm, a bright sun reflecting off the water that stretches around them.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement Saturday that U.S. and U.K. forces “conducted strikes against 36 Houthi targets at 13 locations” in Yemen, including “several underground storage facilities, command and control, missile systems, UAVs storage and operations sites, radar, and helicopters.”
Yemen-based Houthi militants have attacked about 30 cargo ships in the Red Sea since November 19.
last month, Maersk and other shipping companies announced the suspension of their operations. Movements in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that add time and money to shipping goods by ship. If the Houthis’ attacks continue, they could raise consumer prices in the US as the 2024 election approaches.
Houthi leaders rejected the US and UK strikes on Saturday and vowed to continue their attacks on the Red Sea until Israel ends its military operations in Gaza.
“Our military operations against the Zionist entity will continue until the aggression against Gaza stops,” said Houthi political leader Mohammad al-Bakhiti. “We will meet the increase by increasing, and the victory comes only from God.”
US officials declined to comment on the effectiveness of Saturday’s strikes in Yemen. On Friday, the carrier’s F/A-18 aircraft intercepted several drones that Houthi forces were preparing to launch, military officials told NBC News.
The Eisenhower, a sprawling, 1,000-foot, 100,000-ton Nimitz-class carrier, has a crew of about 5,000 and is like a city at sea, with aircraft hangars, mess halls and sleeping quarters. Launched in 1975, the carrier has since circled the globe, deploying during the Iranian hostage crisis, Operation Desert Storm and other conflicts and crises.

The flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Beard | US Navy

U.S. officials said Saturday’s strikes in Yemen followed airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Friday by U.S. warplanes that killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded dozens more at a U.S. outpost in Jordan. They were separate.
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh vowed that the US would continue its efforts to degrade Houthi forces and protect shipping in the Red Sea. “We will hold accountable the groups that are attacking our forces,” he said on MSNBC. “And of course, we will also protect commercial shipping through this area of ​​the Red Sea.”
Experts in the region have warned that it is unlikely that US airstrikes will be able to destroy all the ballistic missiles and drones that Iran has supplied to the Houthi forces in Yemen. With multiple locations in Yemen where weapons can be hidden, including deep, underground storage areas, US forces are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the Houthis.
After the U.S. jets returned safely to Eisenhower on Saturday, it appears that many more engagements with the Houthis lie ahead for the carrier and its crew.