Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
If Trump's intent was to keep the sea lanes open and shipping free from attack by the Houthis, I frankly don't see this as an L for the US.
[ColonelCassad] Yesterday, the US effectively pulled out of the Yemen war by concluding a separate agreement with the Houthis.
The US will stop bombing Yemen, and the Houthis will stop attacking US ships and vessels in the Red Sea and off the coast of Yemen. Which they started doing after the US attacks on Yemen. At the same time, the Houthis retain the freedom to strike Israel and ships heading to Israel. Which is what they did before the US attack on Yemen. Yesterday, Israel went into hysterics about this, saying that Trump didn’t warn anyone and pulled out of the Yemen war, while missiles and drones from Yemen continue to hit Israel.
In fact, the US has not achieved anything significant. The total losses for the entire campaign, started by Biden, amounted to 2 F/A-18, 1 MQ-1 Gray Eagle and 22 MQ-9 Reapers, not counting everything else, including the supposedly damaged aircraft carrier.
The Houthis continued to pound Israel at the beginning of the war, and they continue to do so. And they will continue to do so. Today, the Houthi command once again announced that having dealt with the American aggressors, they will continue to support the Palestinians and strike the Zionists in order to strengthen the naval and air blockade of Israel. The bombing of the US and the Zionists does not scare them.
In general, the US under Trump decided to intensify the half-extinguished war, spent a lot of money on strikes, did not achieve any of the strategic goals and shamefully merged. The idea of ​​​​organizing a land invasion of Yemen also failed - the Saudis flatly refused. They remember how their Houthis got drones at one time. And without the Saudis, the Emiratis alone will not be able to survive a new round of ground war. Even with the support of Israeli and US air forces, there is no guarantee that the Emiratis and the forces of the Southern Transitional Council under their control will be able to take Hodeida, which they have already broken their teeth on before.
In general, the Houthis confidently won this round of the US war and significantly increased their military and political prestige, once again showing that at the current stage they are the most sensible of the Arabs in terms of military affairs. The bet on an asymmetric war against a superior enemy in the form of the US, Britain and Israel has fully justified itself. Well, Trump has de facto lost face, although now he is trying to boast of "successes" in the form of agreements with the Houthis not to shoot at American aircraft carriers. Now that's a victory, so be it.
In March, by the way, it was 10 years since the beginning of the Yemen war, which continues with short pauses to this day.
This war perfectly shows that it is practically impossible to win a war with aviation and missiles alone - wars in the overwhelming majority of cases are won on the ground. And in the case of the Houthis - there are not very many who want to fight them in the Yemeni mountains.
So the honored Fremen of the Middle East have bent over the greedy Baron Donald Harkonnen.
Donald Harkonnen is a partial reference to a character in the Dune sci-fi series.
| The character is murderous, corrupt, decadent — utterly vile in in every possible way. Interesting, though, that in the Russian translation the name is Donald; in the original English, written during the Cold War, the Baron’s name is Vladimir. |
| Ah. How very clever of him. |
Second US fighter jet crashes from aircraft carrier in Red Sea
Another US Navy fighter jet has fallen from the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea. This was reported by CNN citing informed sources.
The incident was likely caused by a malfunction in the braking system during the landing of the F/A-18 Super Hornet on the aircraft carrier.
According to the channel's source, the pilot and officer managed to eject. They received only minor injuries. A rescue helicopter lifted them aboard the aircraft carrier. The sunken fighter has not yet been found.