US Navy Battles Houthi Rebels in Unprecedented Sea Wars

The US Navy is engaged in intense sea battles with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, marking the most sustained combat the Navy has seen since World War II. The Houthis have launched numerous attacks on military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, escalating tensions in the region.

The US Navy is now engaged in intense sea battles with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The combat has escalated with daily attacks by the Houthis, targeting both military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. More than 50 vessels have been targeted, impacting shipping volumes crucial for the Suez Canal route.

US Navy Battles Houthi Rebels in Unprecedented Sea Wars

The US Navy prepared for decades to potentially fight the Soviet Union, then later Russia and China, on the world's waterways. But instead of a global power, the Navy finds itself locked in combat with a shadowy, Iran-backed rebel group based in Yemen.

The US-led campaign against the Houthi rebels, overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, has turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II, its leaders and experts told The Associated Press.

US Navy Battles Houthi Rebels in Unprecedented Sea Wars

The combat pits the Navy's mission to keep international waterways open against a group whose former arsenal of assault rifles and pickup trucks has grown into a seemingly inexhaustible supply of drones, missiles and other weaponry. Near-daily attacks by the Houthis since November have seen more than 50 vessels clearly targeted, while shipping volume has dropped in the vital Red Sea corridor that leads to the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean.

The Houthis say the attacks are aimed at stopping the war in Gaza and supporting the Palestinians, though it comes as they try to strengthen their position in Yemen. All signs suggest the warfare will intensify — putting US sailors, their allies and commercial vessels at more risk.

The pace of the fire can be seen on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, where the paint around the hatches of its missile pods has been burned away from repeated launches. Its sailors sometimes have seconds to confirm a launch by the Houthis, confer with other ships and open fire on an incoming missile barrage that can move near or beyond the speed of sound.

Nearly every day — aside from a slowdown during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan — the Houthis launch missiles, drones or some other type of attack in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the waterways and separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.

The Navy saw periods of combat during the "Tanker Wars" of the 1980s in the Persian Gulf, but that largely involved ships hitting mines. The Houthi assaults involve direct attacks on commercial vessels and warships.

While the Eisenhower appears to largely stay at a distance, destroyers like the Laboon spend six out of seven days near or off Yemen — the "weapons engagement zone," in Navy speak.

Sea combat in the Mideast remains risky, something the Navy knows well. In 1987, an Iraqi fighter jet fired missiles that struck the USS Stark, a frigate on patrol in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war, killing 37 sailors and nearly sinking the vessel.

There's also the USS Cole, targeted in 2000 by boat-borne al-Qaida suicide bombers during a refueling stop in Yemen's port city of Aden, which killed 17 on board.

The Eisenhower's air crews have dropped over 350 bombs and fired 50 missiles at targets in the campaign, said Capt. Marvin Scott, who oversees all the air group's aircraft. Meanwhile, the Houthis apparently have shot down multiple MQ-9 Reaper drones with surface-to-air missile systems.

Officers acknowledge some grumbling among their crew, wondering why the Navy doesn't strike harder against the Houthis. The White House hasn't discussed the Houthi campaign at the same level as negotiations over the Israel-Hamas war.

There are several likely reasons. The US has been indirectly trying to lower tensions with Iran, particularly after Tehran launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel and now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

Meanwhile, there's the Houthis themselves. The rebel group has battled a Saudi-led coalition into a stalemate in a wider war that's killed more than 150,000 people, including civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

The US directly fighting the Houthis is something the leaders of the Zaydi Shiite group likely want. Their motto long has been "God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam." Combating the US and siding publicly with the Palestinians has some in the Mideast praising the rebels.