Despite the Biden administration's best efforts to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from spreading throughout the region, Iran-backed Houthi rebels are launching attack after attack in the Red Sea, forcing U.S. military forces to stop them to repel or face a possible major escalation attack, U.S. officials say.
Houthi rebels launched drone strikes on three civilian ships on Sunday, prompting the USS Carney to respond. On Wednesday, the USS Mason launched another attack.
“We will do everything necessary to protect our forces,” said Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters this week.
However, according to a new report from Portal, Saudi Arabia is behind the scenes urging the White House not to escalate the situation.
The Biden administration may be reluctant to respond further to the Houthi attacks for fear of upsetting the current status quo in Yemen, where a ceasefire between Iran-backed rebels and a Saudi-led coalition ended last year. The ceasefire has largely held, although it ended last year.
Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and senior adviser on South Asia and the Middle East for four presidents, told The Daily Beast in an interview that Saudi Arabia was interested in containing tensions in Yemen to maintain its face on the world stage to protect.
Sailors assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney stand guard in the ship's combat information center during an operation to counter a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Lau/US Navy
“The Saudis don’t want to burn any more bridges. That's why they have resumed relations with Iran. That’s why they tried to end the war in Yemen,” he told The Daily Beast. “They found themselves in a very dangerous situation three years ago. They were stuck in a very costly war in Yemen that they couldn’t win and that created a reputation as a Saudi tyrant.”
The Biden administration is likely to be receptive to these overtures from Saudi Arabia, Riedel said.
“The ceasefire in Yemen is, in a sense, a success story for Joe Biden. His foreign policy in general doesn’t have many success stories,” Riedel said.
Considerations over how to deal with the Houthis come as the United States works to contain a cross-border spiral of war between Israel and Hamas. In addition to the exchange of fire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces have clashed with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, raising the prospect that Iran's funding and support of Hezbollah is leading to a larger confrontation. And with tensions running high as Houthi attacks continue to rain down on the Red Sea, a single misstep threatens to erupt the region into greater chaos.
“How are we supposed to explain it if we lose some sailors or marines?”
The current operational thinking on the Houthis could represent a departure from the way the Biden administration has responded in recent weeks to Iran-backed attacks on U.S. military targets in Iraq and Syria. The United States responded with retaliatory strikes.
Pentagon officials said the U.S. military had to defend against Houthi attacks in recent days, so the military responded. But officials were cautious in saying they were unsure whether the Houthis had tried to intentionally attack the United States.
“They were in the threat ring and commanders took the appropriate measures to ensure they defended themselves,” Ryder told reporters Tuesday about the weekend attacks.
Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the attacks were aimed at deterring Israel from operating in the Red Sea and thus forcing it to stop attacks on Gaza.
The United States should respond with greater force to eliminate its capabilities before anyone is killed, Michael Mulroy, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, told The Daily Beast.
“The Pentagon needs to use its response capability… In other words, if they launch an Iranian-supplied cruise missile or drone at a U.S. ship and we know it's aimed at us, they should be able to do so – just a basic one Self-defense.” – respond to the point of origin,” Mulroy said.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Carney defeats a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Red Sea.
Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Lau/US Navy
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Other response options could include finding storage facilities for the weapons.
“If one of these drones or cruise missiles gets through, how are we going to explain it if we lose some sailors or Marines?”
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former head of U.S. Central Command, said the Biden administration needs to respond more forcefully before we get to that point.
“Sometimes you have to throw a pitch,” McKenzie said in a Politico interview. “You can't fish forever because at some point the law of averages will turn against you and you'll experience a significant escalating event on a ship, and then you'll be forced into an even more significant level of response.”
The Pentagon emphasizes that the US has no interest in expanding the conflict to include the Houthis.
“We are not in an armed conflict with the Houthis,” Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Thursday.
US targets or not, it is possible that there could be an escalation in the Red Sea if the Houthis attack a US ship and the Biden administration is forced to act. In this case, it is also possible that the Houthis will become active in Yemen and inflame tensions there again.
“If we fired a retaliatory shot at a Houthi headquarters, I would be surprised if the Houthi response was to fire a missile at Riyadh,” Riedel said.
The Biden administration is instead working to establish a maritime task force to address the ongoing turmoil in the region as a solution, the Pentagon said.
Biden in recent days dispatched his special envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, to conduct both diplomacy to establish a lasting ceasefire in the Yemen conflict and “intensive” diplomacy on maritime security in the region as Houthi attacks continue, according to reports the state department.