To their credit, the Associated Press is asking a question that I’ve been pondering myself this week. We have seen multiple missile and drone attacks by the Houthi rebels in Yemen against American naval vessels and civilian shipping in the past few weeks. Our military intelligence can clearly see where the attacks are coming from. So why haven’t we retaliated against them? As the AP points out, we have launched a few strikes against Iranian-backed terrorists in Iraq and Syria after they launched attacks. Why is Joe Biden so reluctant to pull the trigger against the Houthis? And who are the Houthis, anyway? As with many things in the Middle East these days, the answers are… complicated.
When Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched missiles and hit three commercial ships in the southern Red Sea last weekend, it triggered an immediate question: Will the U.S. military strike back?
The Houthis have sharply escalated their attacks against ships as they sail toward the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. And U.S. Navy ships have shot down an array of drones headed their way and believed to have been launched by the militant group from territory it controls in Yemen.
But so…
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