We recently reported on Iranian-backed rebels firing missiles at American naval vessels off the coast of Yemen.
They missed, but when Iranian-backed rebels fired missiles at a U.S. Navy destroyer off the coast of Yemen, it signaled a new and dangerous escalation in the hostility with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The ship was definitely targeted, U.S. defense officials said, with the attack coming a week after the Navy sent warships to the area when a UAE-flagged ship was destroyed off the coast of Yemen by Houthi rebels, Fox News is reporting.
We also recently learned that it is very likely that the missiles fired at the American Navy were financed by the Obama administration’s ransom payment to the Iranians.
Once the smoke cleared, the U.S. Navy was able to send some payback to where the missiles were fired from, and boy did it send a message.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported:
A U.S. warship fired three cruise missiles at Iranian-backed Houthi radar stations Thursday, which were used to fire missiles at U.S. warships in international waters.
“These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway,” the Pentagon said in a statement after the strike.“The United States will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic.” …
All missile strikes were fired on U.S ships operating in international waters. Iranian-backed militia fire on a U.S. warship in international waters is a significant escalation of the ongoing civil war in Yemen. The U.S. is supporting a Saudi-led air coalition against the Houthi insurgency, which struck a high profile funeral procession Saturday sparking widespread international condemnation. The Houthi’s attack may have been in retaliation for the funeral strike.
The Houthis are an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Yemen. “It’s not a secret that Iran has been actively supplying them and giving them the tools of war,” Pentagon Spokesman Jeff Davis said in 2015. The U.S. intercepted an Iranian shipping vessel sending vast shipments of arms to the Houthis in April 2016.
The United States is currently backing the Saudis who are fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen, where a civil war has been raging for years.
However, as I noted last month, it’s possible that the Saudis are engaging in war crimes (yet the Obama administration and Congress voted to give over $1 billion in arms to the Saudis, nonetheless).
That is a delicate situation; but here, the Houthi rebels, likely backed by Iran, fired on American naval vessels and ended up paying for it.
Source: The Federalist Papers
