The US Navy has deployed missiles at $2.1m each to destroy “unsophisticated Houthi drones” estimated at a few thousand dollars each.
“The cost offset is not on our side,” one unnamed Pentagon official was quoted as saying.
Over the past two months, the US Navy has reportedly shot down at least 38 drones and multiple missiles in the Red Sea as the Houthis stepped up their attacks in protest of the ongoing Israeli bombardment in Gaza that has killed almost 20,000 Palestinians.
on Monday, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced the formation of the coalition – including Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, Spain and the UK – to patrol the Red Sea in response to Yemeni strikes on ships bound for the Israeli-occupied territories, which came in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s war on the Gaza Strip.
The Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7. The Yemeni armed forces have also launched missile and drone attacks on targets in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine after the occupying regime’s aggression on Gaza.
“The international coalition that America announced under the pretext of protecting maritime navigation in the Red Sea is an alliance to protect the Israeli entity and to protect Israeli ships. It is an integral part of the aggression against the Palestinian people, Gaza, and the Arab and Islamic nations,” the Houthis politburo said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It aims to encourage the Zionist entity to continue its brutal crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This coalition contradicts international law and does not protect maritime navigation, but rather threatens it and seeks to militarize the Red Sea for the benefit of the Israeli entity,” it added.
“Yemen’s armed forces don’t represent any threat to any country, we only target Israeli ships or ships heading toward Israeli ports. We affirm our steadfast position in supporting the Palestinian people until Israel’s aggression ends, and siege on the Gaza strip is lifted.”
