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Yemeni Rebels Target a U.S. Warship Again, Pentagon Says Yemeni Rebels Target U.S. Warship Again, Pentagon Says
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — Yemeni rebels on Wednesday fired on an American destroyer in the Red Sea for the second time in four days, Pentagon officials said, launching a missile that fell short of the warship but risked drawing the United States directly into the deepening civil war in Yemen. WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has tried to navigate a treacherous course since Saudi Arabia launched a bombing campaign in Yemen in March 2015 by quietly providing military support to the campaign and publicly pushing for a peace deal — but all the while trying to keep the United States from being dragged too deeply into the conflict.
Even though the attack inflicted no harm, it appeared that American officials were inching closer to retaliating against the rebels, known as Houthis, an indigenous Shiite group with loose connections to Iran who are fighting the Yemeni government. The Houthis are now believed to have fired at least three missiles in two attacks on the destroyer, the Mason, since Sunday. Two missile attacks this week on an American destroyer cruising off Yemen’s coast threaten to upend this strategy and draw the United States even more directly into the proxy war.
“Those who threaten our forces should know that U.S. commanders retain the right to defend their ships,” said Peter Cook, a Pentagon spokesman. “We will respond to this threat at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner.’’ On Wednesday, the destroyer Mason took fire from a missile fired from a stretch of Yemen’s coastline controlled by Houthi rebels. The missile fell harmlessly into the sea, but it was the second attempted — and failed — missile attack on the ship in four days. Pentagon officials were quick to issue threats of possible retaliation.
The Mason was sailing in Bab el Mandeb, a strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, when it was fired upon around 6 p.m., Mr. Cook said. The Mason responded with defensive fire before the missile fell harmlessly into the sea. A second American ship cruising nearby, the Ponce, which is used to transport amphibious assault forces, was also untouched in the attack. “Those who threaten our forces should know that U.S. commanders retain the right to defend their ships, and we will respond to this threat at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner,” said Peter Cook, the Defense Department’s spokesman.
Mr. Cook said that the Mason was “conducting routine operations” when it was fired on near the strait, and that it would continue to sail in the area. The strait is one of the world’s most heavily trafficked waterways. If the Pentagon responds with force, it would be the first time that the United States took an offensive military role in a conflict that pits the Saudis and other Sunni nations against Houthi rebels, a Shiite group that has received support from Iran.
An American military official described the missile used in the attack as a coastal defense cruise missile meant to be used against ships and said it was sophisticated enough to inflict significant damage if it had hit. The same type of missile is believed to have been used by the Houthis in an attack on Oct. 1 that disabled a United Arab Emirates military logistics ship, the Swift. Up to now, the Obama administration has put limits on its support for the Saudi-led coalition by providing intelligence and Air Force tankers to refuel the coalitions jets and bombers. The American military has refueled more than 5,700 aircraft involved in the bombing campaign since it began, according to statistics provided by United States Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East.
The United States military was certain that the Houthis had fired the missile used in Wednesday’s attack, said the American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the formal Pentagon statement. It came from an area under rebel control, and there were small skiffs in the area that may have been directing the missile fire. This American role has drawn criticism from human rights groups who condemn the campaign as reckless. More than 4,000 civilians have been killed since the bombing began, according to the United Nations’ top human rights official. That number includes at least 140 people who were killed in an airstrike on a funeral ceremony last weekend in the Yemeni capital, Sana.
The situation was similar to the one that unfolded on Sunday, when Houthi rebels appeared to have first targeted the Mason with a pair of coastal defense missiles. That attack also came from an area under control of the Houthis. Though the missiles failed to hit the ship, American officials have since said that they were investigating whether the ship had been targeted by radar under rebel control. Hours after the strike, the White House issued a statement promising a review of the American military aid to the Saudis “so as to better align with U.S. principals, values and interests.”
How the Houthi rebels obtained the missiles is not clear. They have seized ample amounts of military hardware in their two-year campaign to seize control of Yemen, and they are also believed to have received substantial aid from Iran, including advanced weaponry. “U.S. security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check,” said the statement by Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
After the first missile attack against the Mason, the Pentagon suggested that it was weighing whether to retaliate against the rebels. But Peter Salisbury, a Yemen expert at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said the attacks this week on the Mason could change the dynamic. “This will probably force the U.S.’s hand into deepening its support for the Saudi-led coalition,” he said.
“Anybody who takes action, fires against U.S. Navy ships operating in international waters, does so at their own peril,” Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. Secretary of State John Kerry has pushed for a peace deal in Yemen, arguing that the United States can be an honest broker since it is not directly involved in the bombing campaign. If the military responds to this week’s missile attacks, Mr. Salisbury said, that would be a more difficult position to take.
The attack on Wednesday was likely to bolster the case of those pushing for retaliation. The United States has until now sought to play a behind-the-scenes role in Yemen by trying to broker a diplomatic end to the fighting while at the same time providing logistical support and intelligence to Saudi Arabia, which is leading an air campaign against the Houthis. “If they do intervene, it deepens the case that the Americans are party to the conflict,” he said.
The Saudi-led campaign began in March 2015, about a year after the Houthis and army units loyal to Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh first began battling to oust the country’s current president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Mason was sailing in Bab el Mandeb, a strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, when it was fired upon Wednesday. The ship responded with defensive fire before the missile fell into the sea, according to the Pentagon.
But the Saudi campaign has largely failed to stop the Houthis. Instead, much of Yemen is now on the brink of famine, and reports of civilians killed in airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition have become routine. A second American ship nearby, the Ponce, used to transport amphibious assault forces, was also untouched in the attack.
The latest civilian deaths came on Saturday, when Yemeni officials and witnesses said a series of airstrikes by the Saudis and their allies killed more than 100 people. The carnage appears to have undermined attempts to reopen talks on ending the war, and prompted the United States to begin what the Obama administration said was a review of its support for the Saudi-led coalition. Mr. Cook said that the Mason was “conducting routine operations” when it was fired on, and that it would continue to sail in the strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways.
An American military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the formal Pentagon statement, described the weapon used in the attack as a coastal defense cruise missile, designed to be used against ships. The same type of missile is believed to have been used by the Houthis in an attack on Oct. 1 that disabled a United Arab Emirates military logistics ship, the Swift.
The official said the missile came from an area under rebel control. The situation was similar to one that unfolded on Sunday, when a pair of coastal defense missiles were fired at the Mason but failed to hit the ship.
How the rebels might have obtained the missiles is not clear. The rebels have seized ample amounts of military hardware in their two-year campaign to seize control of Yemen, and they are also believed to have received substantial aid from Iran, possibly including advanced weaponry.
American intelligence officials say that the Houthis receive significantly less support from Iran than the Saudis and other Gulf nations have alleged.
The Saudi-led campaign began in March 2015, about a year after the Houthis and army units loyal to Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, began battling to oust the country’s current president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Despite skepticism in Washington about the wisdom of the campaign, the Obama administration threw its support behind the Saudis — in part because it needed support in Riyadh for the nuclear deal it was then negotiating with Iran, the bitter enemy of Saudi Arabia.
Besides providing intelligence and refueling help, the Pentagon sent a team of military personnel to Saudi Arabia to assist the planners of the air campaign.
But the Saudi campaign has failed to dislodge the Houthis from Sana. Instead, much of Yemen is now on the brink of famine, and reports of civilians killed in airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition have become routine.
In August, the aid organization Doctors Without Borders said it was withdrawing its personnel from the country after the coalition bombed several of its medical facilities, including a strike on a hospital in Northern Yemen that killed 19 people.
Despite international condemnation of the campaign, the White House pushed ahead this year with a $1.15 billion arms deal for Saudi Arabia that includes tanks and other heavy military equipment. A Senate resolution in September to block the sale failed, but that 26 senators voted for it signaled growing congressional concern about the Saudi alliance.
“We are complicit and actively involved with war in Yemen,” Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who worked to block the arms deal, said at the time.“There’s been no debate in Congress, really no debate in the public sphere over whether or not we should be at war in Yemen.”