America's Campaign Against Houthi Missiles Begins to Show Progress

 

The U.S. interdiction campaign against Houthi anti-ship missiles is beginning to show signs of progress, according to the top Air Force officer in the Mideast.

"Their pace of operations is not what it was," Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich told the AP. 

It's not clear yet just how big the Houthis' stockpiles  of antiship missiles and drones were at the start of the campaign, so measuring the degree of degradation is difficult, he said. Iran is still likely resupplying the group with new weapons shipments, and the pace of this supply chain will be key to Houthi capabilities going forward, he said. 

To be sure, the Houthi group remains capable of launching attacks. Just on Wednesday, the destroyer USS Gravely shot down a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile and two Houthi drones while on station in the Red Sea. On Thursday, U.S. forces destroyed an anti-ship missile on the ground in Houthi-controlled territory, preventing another attack. 

Though the air defense and counterstrike operation appears to be hitting its stride, the White House's envoy to Yemen suggested Wednesday that it would be ideal to negotiate an end to the campaign - by removing the Houthis' terrorist designation. 

"[The hope] is that we can find diplomatic off-ramps to find ways to de-escalate and allow us to pull back eventually the designation and, of course, to end the military strikes," said U.S. envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking told reporters Wednesday. 

The Biden administration lifted the Houthis' terrorist designation shortly after taking office in 2020, hoping to make it easier for humanitarian aid organizations to function in Yemen. It reimposed the same terrorist designation in January, citing Houthi attacks on shipping, which National Security Council spokesman Jake Sullivan called "the textbook definition of terrorism." The White House's proposal to remove the terrorist designation once more - the third listing change for the group in four years - has drawn criticism. 

"The Houthi terrorists and their Iranian benefactors have tried to shut down global trade in the Red Sea . . . Appeasing and rewarding such behavior would be a new low for the Biden foreign policy team," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) in a statement Thursday.