Tag Archive for: Houthis

While Biden Pentagon Was Fighting the Houthis, the Biden State Department and USAID Were Funding Them

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The U.S. sent billions in famine relief to Yemen. During the famine, the population rose 30%. And Yemen’s Houthis used our money to go to war against us.

In May 2024, the Biden administration announced that it was providing $220 million in aid to Yemen which the United States had been at war with since the start of that year.

Even while the US Navy was engaged in what the Associated Press would describe next month as the “most intense combat since World War II” with Yemen’s Houthi Jihadists, the U.S. Mission to Yemen boasted of having provided “nearly $5.9 billion” in aid beginning with the Obama administration, of being “the largest donor of humanitarian assistance” and urged that “other donors must join us in stepping up” to fund an Iranian-backed terror group at war with us.

A terror group whose motto, like its Iranian patrons, is “Death to America.”

One arm of the United States government, the Pentagon, was fighting the Houthis, while another arm, the State Department and USAID, were funding them. While Navy personnel on board US Navy vessels had seconds to prepare and counter Houthi strikes, State Department and USAID personnel worked to keep the Houthi’s Hodeidah port open so more “aid” could pass through it. The US Navy was not allowed to strike Hodeidah even though it was the Houthi lifeline for the weapons that the Houthis were using to attack American and other vessels.

The Biden administration had ended President Trump’s support for Saudi action against the Houthis and lavished a fortune on the terrorist areas because terrorist supporters and international groups had falsely claimed that Yemen was suffering from a deadly famine.

Before Islamic terrorist supporters, their leftist allies and international aid groups faked a famine in Gaza to save Hamas, #YemenFamine was trending on social media along with photos of wounded and starving children. Much as in Gaza, there was no famine. Rather the Houthis were seizing international aid which they then resold to create food shortages. The more aid came in, the more the Houthis seized. The fake famine was used to mount an international pressure campaign to end the attacks on the Houthis and send billions of dollars in relief to Yemen.

Massive shipments of urea, a fertilizer also used in explosives, were allowed into Yemen to help grow crops and stop the mythical famine. Even though urea was proscribed, the shipments were not interfered with in the name of ending the famine that wasn’t happening. Along with the urea came ammonium perchlorate which is used in rocket fuel. The rockets being fired at US Navy vessels were fueled by the famine lie. False claims of a famine were a tool of war.

By 2018, over $4 billion in humanitarian aid had poured into Yemen. The UN’s World Food Program, which would later invent and become the loudest voice promoting the Gaza famine hoax, operated 5,000 distribution sites to supposedly aid 10 million people whom it claimed were facing emergency conditions, but could only track 1 in 5 of its food basket allotments.

In 2017, two-thirds of those who were supposed to be receiving food had not gotten anything.

In one Houthi province, the UN sent twice as much food as the people needed, and came away claiming that the majority of the population was still in desperate need of food.

The WFP, and even the AP eventually admitted that the Houthis were taking much of the food. The Houthis created fake lists of starving people who needed food. International aid groups resorted to sending money so that Yemenis could buy the food aid that was being resold.

Even though all of this was well known, the Biden administration kept on sending more aid five years later. The money didn’t go to the people: it went to the Houthis at war with America.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first order of business was taking the Houthis off the list of foreign terrorist organizations, making it legal to fund them, despite “their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens” because of “the humanitarian consequences” that would take place in Yemen. Even as the Houthis went to war against America, “humanitarian aid” provisions protected the delivery of fuel, and the port and airport operations that allowed the Houthis to get more money and weapons.

Earlier this year, the UN demanded $2.47 billion for its 2025 Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. In February, the Houthis killed a WFP worker (an event that got far less publicity than the deaths of aid workers in Gaza), but in April, the WFP expressed outrage that the United States was finally, at least temporarily, pausing aid and would not be allocating over $100 million in funds to the enemy region at war with the United States.

After 9 years of non-stop famine (and billions in spending), 17 million people are facing acute hunger in Yemen. That’s up from 15.9 million people in 2019.

Since the famine began, Yemen’s population shot up from 30 million to 39 million.

Having a population increase by 10 million or 30% during a famine is unprecedented. What accounts for this Yemeni miracle? Miraculously, Yemen’s population rose sharply as an unprecedented wave of foreign aid poured into this country. It’s unknown how many of these miracle births were real or fake names to collect yet more humanitarian aid for the hungry.

After the latest round of airstrikes, a Yemeni man interviewed on camera, chanted, “Death to America” and bragged that “our country is fortified with the skulls of American demons.”

More accurately, it’s fortified with $5.9 billion in American taxpayer money.

Since Yemen’s population seem to have figured out how to increase by a third during a famine affecting half their population, they clearly don’t need any more help from us, which should be used to help actual starvation victims in African countries that can’t just pump oil from the ground. Not only should we stop sending aid to Yemen, we should block all further aid.

If we don’t want to be in a perpetual war over passage through the Red Sea or depend on the goodwill of a terrorist group for access to it, we should cut off the money to the terrorists.

And while Iran has supplied the Houthis with weapons and money, in Yemen, much as in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza, much of the money going to the terrorists comes from us.

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Huckabee: Giving Iran a Nuke Is Like Handing a 16-Year-Old a ‘Lamborghini and a Bottle of Whiskey’

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The billowing smoke from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Sunday should have told the world everything it needs to know about Iran’s appetite for Middle East peace. Days after the regime scrapped plans for a fourth round of U.S. nuclear talks, people were running for cover from a Yemen-launched missile strike that exploded dangerously close to passengers at an international terminal. It was a gutsy move from the Iran-backed Houthis, who are about to reap the outrage of an incensed Israeli cabinet. “Anyone who hits us,” the country’s defense minister warned, “we will hit them seven times stronger.”

The weekend attack will almost certainly throw a wrench into the Trump administration’s next steps. While the Houthis have tried to bombard Israel for the last several weeks, Sunday’s offensive was the first one to cause multiple injuries. And as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reminded the world, the president doesn’t take kindly to Iran’s proxies provoking the Jewish state.

“Let nobody be fooled!” Trump cautioned in a March post that Bibi recirculated Sunday, “The hundreds of attacks being made by the Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemini people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN. Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee the force will stop there.’”

Iran, the president wanted people to know, “has played ‘the innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control. They’re dictating every move, giving them weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment. … Every shot fired by the Houthis,” the U.S. leader reiterated, “will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired by weapons and leadership of IRAN.” And that regime, he emphasized, “will be held responsible, suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!”

On Monday, the Israeli Air Force and U.S. forces started to make good on that promise — bombing more than a dozen sites in Yemen by nightfall. “A total of 50 munitions were dropped. We destroyed Hudaydah Port and facilities used to manufacture arms,” an Israeli official said. “This was a very powerful strike — and it will not be the last. The era of restraint is over.”

Before the Tel Aviv attack, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had drawn a bright red line on what the U.S. could do in Iran if they insisted on poking the bear. “We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing,” he posted Wednesday on X. “You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned.”

Barely 48 hours earlier, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who’d led a delegation of Christian leaders to Israel, sat down with CBN’s Chris Mitchell in Jerusalem to talk about the country’s mood about Iran. Not surprisingly, they’re frustrated by the on-and-off again talks between Trump’s team and Iranian leaders. There’s a lot of “consternation,” Mitchell agreed. “There seems to be some momentum to actually [move forward with] a military strike on Iran’s nuclear programs,” especially, he pointed out, as more American bombers moved into the Indian Ocean.

Most people in the Jewish state presumed that an operation against Iran was imminent. “Then the negotiations come in, and the thinking is, ‘Well, what’s happening here? First of all, the negotiations were like, ‘Oh, we’ll limit their enriched uranium.’ And a lot of people here think, ‘Well, wait, we did that in the 2015 [Iran nuclear deal]. And why are we actually talking about enriching uranium and reducing the amount they have? Why aren’t we talking about eliminating the entire program?’”

And yet, as Mitchell pointed out, there’s a lot more trust in the Trump administration than its predecessor. So if the president thinks he should at least make an effort at diplomacy, they understand that. “He’s not a warmonger. He likes to end wars, not start wars.” The Israelis have been giving American leaders the benefit of the doubt, hoping maybe Iran would actually cave to pressure and “pull back.”

But there’s also a very real concern that “Iran seems to be getting closer and closer to a nuclear device,” Mitchell explained. “And a lot of people here are saying, ‘Well, this is Iran’s method of operation. This is their M.O. They like to stall. They like to keep talking. … And so the fear here is that they’re going to extend the talks, while, on the other hand, trying to get as close as they can to a nuclear weapon.”

That concern was echoed by the new U.S. ambassador, Mike Huckabee. In a wide-ranging conversation with the former governor on Saturday’s “This Week on Capitol Hill,” Perkins wondered if the world could trust Iran. “Are they reasonable people?” he asked Huckabee in his second interview at the embassy. Absolutely not, the new ambassador replied.

“To be blunt, they never have been in [the] 46 years they’ve been under the rule of the ayatollahs. And they’ve been very adamant that their goal is to destroy Israel and then to destroy the United States. When they’ve said something like that for 46 years … we’re looking at a nation that has a long history of doing everything that it says it’s going to do.” Of course, he added, “Are they at a point where they’ve been downgraded in their military capacity because of the Israeli strikes that happened last year? We don’t know. So the honest answer, when people say, ‘Do you have any hope that this will result in some type of negotiated peace settlement with the Iranian government?’ All I can do is say, I hope so, because I’d rather see that than war.”

Anyone who’s studied the regime’s history, Huckabee says, wouldn’t be “overly optimistic that they’re just eager to sit down and that they would make a deal,” the Arkansas native warned. “And if they made it, would they keep it? But let’s hope and pray that they do. There is a lot at stake if something doesn’t happen. The president has been adamant that they’re not going to get nuclear weapons. They’re adamant they are. That’s a stalemate. … And I think … President Trump wanted us to know he’s not kidding.”

At the end of the day, the ambassador insisted, “They’re not going to get nuclear weapons. So the question is, do they realize that?” he wondered. “Do they risk the control of their regime just for the pride of saying they’re going to push forward with something that they’ve been told by everyone in the region they’re never going to have?” And frankly, Huckabee reiterated, “even their Muslim neighbors don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon any more than you would want a 16-year-old boy to have keys to a Lamborghini and a bottle of whiskey. You just don’t give irresponsible people things that they can’t be responsible with.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Hegseth Sends Strong Message to Iran and Houthis: ‘You Will Pay’

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Iran supports this lethal terrorist organization in Yemen, which continues to attack American warships in the Red Sea. All while the Trump Administration negotiates with Iran over it’s nuclear program. Now imagine how Iran would behave if they actually possessed a nuclear weapons arsenal. With a nuclear weapons arsenal, Iran would wreak absolute havoc throughout the Middle East and the world. That is because they would believe that they have immunity to any counter measures from the U.S or anyone else. Iran’s nuclear program must be dismantled and destroyed before it’s too late.

Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies: Iran nuclear and sanctions expert @rich_goldberg predicted this moment during the transition: “This is one of the most fundamental decision points President-elect Trump will face, which will determine whether maximum pressure succeeds or fails: He must be willing to tell President Xi that Iran sanctions policy is in a category of its own diplomatically; the U.S. will fully enforce its sanctions no matter where the breadcrumbs of evasion lead inside China. A major enforcement action will likely be necessary to prove to Xi that the American hall pass on Iranian oil imports has come to an end” (X). Hugh Hewitt: If President Trump wants to secure a national security legacy that will never be other than history-changing, the time to do so is fast approaching. President Trump has drawn a ‘red line’ for Iran, the question is whether or not he’ll now enforce it. The Institute for the Study of War recently published a summary of the moment: “Senior Iranian officials are continuing to threaten nuclear weaponization, likely to try to deter a potential US or Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities amid new US threats to strike these facilities….” Trump knows what a disaster it will be if Iran gets nukes (Townhall Review).

Geller Report Staff

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POSTS ON X:

BREAKING: IDF and IAF Attack Yemen During Speech by Houthi leader

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An Israeli source confirms to Sky News in Arabic: We attacked the international airport in Sanaa. Another channel also reported an attack on the power plant in the area. 

According to initial reports in Yemen, there are deaths and injuries in attacks in the airport area.

The IAF attack in Yemen is spreading in several locations and is more widespread and affecting the country’s infrastructure.

Brief background leading up to IDF attack on Houthis

In recent days, there has been a real debate in Israel about how to respond to the Houthis’ aggression — whether to act directly against them and be satisfied with that, or whether to also act directly against Iran, as recommended by Mossad head Dedi Barnea.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, as we reported last night, expressed reservations about the Mossad head’s position and believed that direct action should be taken against the Houthis. “We will deal with Iran separately,” the Prime Minister said.

Senior officials in his entourage added that his position was formulated, among other things, in light of the additional challenges Israel now faces, including the changes in Syria.

ANALYSIS: This is the start of a campaign against Houthis

The current attack on Yemen is not just another one, but a new campaign that Israel will wage against the Houthis. As long as the terror on their part continues, the security establishment will continue to attack from the other side with great force.

Reports indicate that 7 attacks have been carried out on Sana’a and 3 attacks were carried out on the port city of Hodeidah.

“Our planes disabled the international airport in Sana’a by destroying its control tower, among other things. At the same time, they attacked the seaport in Hodeidah.”

In addition, the attack on Sana’a airport resulted in the destruction of several civilian aircraft.

WATCH: This is the start of an IDF and IAF campaign against the Houthis

YEMEN: 2nd wave begins: IAF attacks the airport in Hodeidah

Top Israeli officials: Our response is not complete

Reports of at least 10 attacks in Yemen’s capital and the port city of Hodeidah. The attacks are still on going!

Al-Arabiya reports: Dozens of Israeli Air Force planes are participating in the strikes

A senior Israeli official tells me: 

If the Houthis don’t understand with force, they will understand with more force. They had better draw the conclusions from what happened in Gaza and Lebanon as soon as possible.

Moriah Ashraf and Doron Kadosh — Telegram

In addition, a member of the political council of the terrorist organization Ansar Allah, Hizam al-Assad, tweeted on the social network X in Hebrew the words: “In times of trouble, even shelters will not save them.”

Sana’a airport has been shut down

There are reports coming in that the U.S. is participating in the attacks, unverified as yet. 

Sana’a airport was shut down, the runways were destroyed, the control tower was destroyed

Sources for Al Arabiya: Israel attacked the Houthi headquarters in Sanaa

An Israeli attack targeted the Ras Qutib power station, north of the city of Hodeidah.

EDITORS NOTE: This Newsrael News Desk column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Israel Hit Yemen Harder in 1 Day Than Biden did in 7 Months

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Israel didn’t just protect its own people, but protected the U.S. Navy.

In June, the AP headlined its story as “In conflict with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, U.S. Navy faces most intense combat since World War II.”

“I don’t think people really understand just kind of how deadly serious it is what we’re doing and how under threat the ships continue to be,” Cmdr. Eric Blomberg with the USS Laboon told the AP on a visit to his warship on the Red Sea.

“We only have to get it wrong once,” he said. “The Houthis just have to get one through.”

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.

“It is every single day, every single watch, and some of our ships have been out here for seven-plus months doing that,” said Capt. David Wroe, the commodore overseeing the guided missile destroyers.

How in the world is it possible that an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group out of Yemen could be subjecting the US Navy to the “most intense combat since World War II”?

The answer is partly there in the story. Instead of hitting the Houthis hard, the US Navy has been stuck playing defense as I had described in an earlier article.

After the initial wave of attacks, the US Navy shifted over to what it euphemistically called “defensive air strikes” against Houthi missiles or rockets that had already been launched or were being prepped for launch. The constant reports about “defensive air strikes” made it sound as if the United States were constantly bombing Yemen, when the US Navy had been allowed to do the bare minimum to prevent and survive more incoming attacks. It wasn’t enough.

A New York Times article on the Biden administration’s intentions stated that the strategy represents “the administration’s attempt to chip away at the Houthis’ ability to menace merchant ships and military vessels but not hit so hard as to kill large numbers of Houthi fighters and commanders, and potentially unleash even more mayhem into a region”. As if ceding the Red Sea hasn’t done that already.

The US Navy is tasked with intercepting incoming Houthi attacks. The few airstrikes that were authorized targeted Houthi rockets and radar rather than trying to do real damage.

After a Houthi drone attack hit Tel Aviv, a block away from the US Consulate building which may have been a possible target, Israel hit back, not by trying to play ‘whack-a-mole’ with the Houthis, but by going after major targets and inflicting major damage.

The IAF attack in the Hodeidah area of Yemen was carried out by 20 fighter jets, some of which were refueled in mid-air, and at a distance of more than 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Israel – 200 kilometers farther than Tehran, as confirmed by the IDF.

The port of Hodeidah is one of the main routes through which military supplies and weapons from Iran enter Yemen. About 70% of the goods arriving there go to the Houthis, who act as protection racket for the humanitarian aid arriving at the location. The strike damaged infrastructures that would affect its function as a supply route for weapons launched at Israel.

And the US Navy.

This is going to be a crucial point this week. The so-called “aid” groups will scream bloody murder and claim that Israel is causing a ‘famine’ in Yemen. (No, they don’t have any new propaganda ideas.)

Biden didn’t dare put the port out of commission because it’s where the ‘aid’ comes into Yemen. So he allowed Iran to use it to funnel weapons to the Houthis.

By hitting the port, Israel didn’t just protect its own people, but protected the US Navy.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

NEW IRANIAN THREAT: Unmanned Submarines in the Hands of Houthis and Hezbollah

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Merchant ships and warships in the Red Sea are under frequent attack from anti-ship cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles, drones and sea mines.

Now a new threat has emerged under the water.

Already on February 18, US Central Command announced that naval forces in the Red Sea had destroyed an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in Houthi-controlled waters around Yemen. This is the first time that the Houthi movement has been observed operating remotely controlled vessels since attacks began last October.

Just a few days earlier, CENTCOM issued a press release about the seizure of an arms shipment from Iran to the Houthis in Yemen. The seizure included components for unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and, in particular, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), according to images released by CENTCOM. The weapons seizure links the Houthis’ UUV threat to tools and techniques provided by Iran.

Hamas has also stated in the past that there are UUVs in Gaza, according to photos it released in November as reported by Naval News.

In recent times, the allies from the West are making a supreme effort to thwart any attempt to launch explosive drones or remotely controlled suicide boats. The coalition repeatedly bombards the inferno boat anchorages and with the help of spy satellites thwarts the firing of ballistic missiles while still in the preparation phase for launch

Now it turns out that in light of the Western superiority in the air that allows them to thwart the vast majority of the Houthis’ attack attempts, there are signs that they are preparing to move and fight in the underwater medium.

By the way, Hezbollah has been equipped with such tools for a long time and this week the media in Lebanon reported that Hezbollah recruited all of its naval personnel and ordered them to prepare the tools.

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EDITORS NOTE: This The Nziv Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

An Administration Hopelessly Adrift

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The Biden administration has made a big deal out of the construction of a pier on the coast of Gaza which will supposedly allow the delivery of needed emergency aid to civilians there. Never mind that the real problem in Gaza is that the pirates in Hamas steal all the aid that is delivered. Somebody thought the optics would be good, and we would get points for helping the Palestinians.

A piece of the pier has broken loose and washed ashore. An Army vessel sent to retrieve it has also washed ashore. American military personnel from what we are told we should still consider the world’s mightiest military are standing on the beach watching helplessly. Operations at the pier have been suspended indefinitely.

It is hard to look at those images and not see in them as a metaphor for the entire, disastrous Biden Presidency.

Meanwhile, the Houthis, whom we have supposedly been bombing for months now continue to attack vessels in the Red Sea with impunity. A Greek ship was reported on Tuesday to be taking on water and in danger of sinking after being hit by a Houthi missile.

Not only have the Houthis not stopped their attacks they have expanded them. A few days ago, they struck a vessel in the Mediterranean. They have made clear they intend to continue to do so. Central Command has noted that the threat is real. Nothing has been done and we are waiting for the next ship to be hit.

All of the weapons used by the Houthis in these attacks are supplied in one way or the other by Iran. All of the targeting data they are using to hit ships hundreds of miles away comes from Iran as well. The entire Houthi assault on the world’s shipping is directed by Tehran. There is no indication that the Biden administration intends to do anything meaningful in response.

Instead, the Biden administration intends to continue its policy of rewarding our enemies and enabling them to continue to spread terror throughout the Middle East. On Tuesday it was announced that the U.S. would send $593 million in “humanitarian” aid to Syria. According to the report, the funds are for Syria’s LGBTQ+ community, women’s rights, people with disabilities, and the displaced. How exactly we intend to ensure that the brutal Syrian regime uses the funds for those purposes and not for things like setting the Middle East on fire remains unclear.

Meanwhile the Iranians either already have nuclear weapons or are about to acquire them. When they do so the whole world will change overnight. Tehran will acquire the ability to make good on its threat to wipe Israel from the face of the Earth. It will also have the ability to destroy its Arab opponents like Saudi Arabia. It is highly unlikely Israel will tolerate such a situation, and almost certain that a nuclear-armed Iran means preemptive Israeli strikes and a broader conflict that will consume the region.

The Biden administration’s response to this has been to pressure our allies to back off on condemnation of Iran and to avoid criticism of Iran for its nuclear program. Both Britain and France have indicated they intend to push for censure of Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s member-state board in early June. In addition to pressuring Britain and France to back off the U.S. has pushed a number of other countries to abstain in a censure vote, saying that is what Washington will do.

Assuming they do not already have nuclear weapons. Iran is about to acquire them. We are running cover for them and doing everything we can apparently to guarantee they acquire this capability.

Meanwhile, in this hemisphere, Iran continues to strengthen its relationship with the virulent anti-American regime in Venezuela. Caracas now has Iranian-made missile boats and the missiles with which to arm them. In effect, Iran is handing to Maduro and his cronies the capability to launch a campaign in the Caribbean like that the Houthis have launched in the Red Sea. If they do not already the Venezuelans will soon have the tools they need to shut down commercial shipping routes to and from the Panama Canal and all southern U.S. ports.

Read more.

Originally published by AND Magazine

AUTHOR

Sam Faddis

Charles “Sam” Faddis is a veteran, retired CIA operations officer, Senior Partner with Artemis, LLC and published author. With degrees from The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Law School, he is a contributor to ANDmagazine.com, Newsmax, and The Hill among others. He regularly appears on many networks and radio programs as a national security and counter-terrorism expert.  Sam is the author of “Beyond Repair: The Decline And Fall Of The CIA” and “Willful Neglect: The Dangerous Illusion Of Homeland Security.”

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EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Biden Regime Poised To Give Iran $10 Billion

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“Fight against those do not believe in Allah or the last day, and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, even if they are among the people of the book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.”  — Qur’an 9:29

Paying the jizya.

Iran funds and trains Hamas. Iran is Hezb’allah. Iran backs the Houthis.

Ask yourself, what the hell is going on here?

Biden Admin Poised To Grant Iran Billions in Sanctions Relief, Lawmakers Warn

Sanctions waiver unlocks upward of $10 billion for Tehran

By: Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, March 12, 2024

The Biden administration is poised to issue a fresh sanctions waiver for Iran that will grant the country access to upward of $10 billion in frozen assets, providing Tehran with “a financial lifeline” as it foments terrorism across the Middle East, according to a group of GOP lawmakers.

In November, shortly after Hamas’s attack on Israel, the State Department signed off on a sanctions waiver that permits Iraq to transfer multibillion-dollar electricity payments to Iran. The waiver, which grants Tehran access to around $10 billion in frozen funds, is set to expire this month unless the Biden administration renews it.

A group of Republican lawmakers is concerned that the sanctions waiver will be approved, according to a letter sent late Monday to the Treasury and State Departments and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The lawmakers ask the Biden administration to provide information on how much cash Iran has been able to access in the months since sanctions were lifted.

The sanctions waiver decision comes as Iran and its regional terror proxies—which include Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen—foment chaos across the Middle East, including a series of missile attacks that killed 3 American military members and wounded more than 40. Critics of the sanctions waiver say it will enable Iran to continue funding its terrorist allies amid the worst spate of violence in the Middle East in years.

“Given the Biden Administration’s posture on the last waiver we presume that the Biden Administration will renew the waiver again to continue to allow for the transfer of funds from Iraq to Oman,” four Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Bill Huizenga (Mich.), wrote in the letter. “By waiving the application of sanctions, the Administration is maintaining a financial lifeline for the Iranian regime, even as it continues to support terrorist organizations around the world.”

The waiver allows Iraq to transfer payments for electricity imports from Iran into accounts outside the country that can be used by Tehran. The State Department maintains these funds can only be used for humanitarian purposes, such as food and medicine, but critics note that money is fungible and that Tehran can allocate resources into its terrorism enterprise if granted access to aid dollars.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Why the U.S. is Losing the War to the Houthis

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Two fallen Navy SEALS and only 32 dead terrorists after two months of fighting.

After Biden came home from his Caribbean vacation, the Deputy Defense Secretary came back from hers and the Secretary of Defense was on the verge of being released from the hospital, airstrikes were finally authorized against the Houthi Jihadis attacking ships in the Red Sea.

Biden said that the air strikes sent “a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes.”

The message was not very clear since the Houthis then struck a bulk carrier owned by an American company and spent the next two months terrorizing the Red Sea. The Iranian-backed terror group which seized control of much of Yemen due to Obama’s Arab Spring has launched even more devastating attacks on ships and has now reportedly attacked an undersea cable, after previously deploying an undersea drone and warning of further “submarine” attacks..

The Red Sea siege has affected shipping and commodities prices all over the world. The U.S. Navy ended a lot of its cargo runs in the Red Sea and so have a lot of civilian shipping firms.

Why have the Houthis been able to not only survive, but to escalate their attacks? Because the Biden administration was never serious about taking them out. The original attacks targeted less than 30 sites from a terror group that had shot off over 1,000 rockets and missiles in the previous 7 years and was clearly prepared for an extended campaign of rocket attacks.

Israel had reportedly dropped over 1,000 bombs a day in the first week of the Oct 7 war. While numbers like these were widely criticized as overkill, they worked. There had been over 6,000 Hamas rocket alerts in the first two weeks of the war. Two weeks later, the number had dropped to over 1,000 and currently stands at less than 100. Israel’s massive assault had worked.

Biden’s occasional pinprick attacks barely even slowed down the Houthi attacks.

After the first round of U.S. strikes, right before Biden flew off to Raleigh, North Carolina to promote his plan for subsidized internet, there was a remarkable exchange with a reporter.

“Are the airstrikes in Yemen working?” he was asked.

“Well, when you say ‘working,’ are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue?  Yes,” Biden replied.

No one in the press seemed interested in following up the very strange statement. If the airstrikes aren’t working, why carry them out? Was there a plan to step up the strikes? No.

After the initial wave of attacks, the US Navy shifted over to what it euphemistically called “defensive air strikes” against Houthi missiles or rockets that had already been launched or were being prepped for launch. The constant reports about “defensive air strikes” made it sound as if the United States were constantly bombing Yemen, when the US Navy had been allowed to do the bare minimum to prevent and survive more incoming attacks. It wasn’t enough.

Two weeks after the original raids, as the Houthis continued their attacks, Biden authorized follow-up air strikes on a mere 8 locations. A week later, a tanker had been hit and was burning. In early February, Biden signed off on a third round of attacks hitting 36 targets across 13 locations. In the coming weeks, the Houthis shot down the second of two U.S. drones

After multiple Houthi attacks and damage to an underwater cable, Biden now signed off on a fourth round of attacks that hit 18 targets across 8 locations. Will these stop the Houthis?

As Biden already admitted after the first round of attacks, they won’t. But that’s not their purpose. The goal is to maintain some sort of balance of power against the Houthis. The Department of Defense regularly issues official warnings to the Houthis that there will be consequences. But the only consequences are the occasional light air strikes on old Yemeni air defense capabilities and rocket:, some of which date back to the days of the USSR.

So far two American Navy SEALS are dead and Iran has control of the world’s shipping.

And how many of the Houthi Jihadis have been killed? After an initial naval battle in which ten of the terrorists were killed, the Houthis claimed that only five of their men were killed in Biden’s first round of airstrikes. The funerals of another 17 were held after the third round of strikes.

That would make for a total of 32 dead terrorists after two months of fighting the United States.

Are the Houthis understating their casualties? Maybe. But a New York Times article on the Biden administration’s intentions stated that the strategy represents “the administration’s attempt to chip away at the Houthis’ ability to menace merchant ships and military vessels but not hit so hard as to kill large numbers of Houthi fighters and commanders, and potentially unleash even more mayhem into a region”. As if ceding the Red Sea hasn’t done that already.

Chipping away at their arsenals while trying to minimize Houthi deaths has failed miserably.

What is the Biden administration doing wrong? Apart from scale, it’s trying to target Houthi drones and missiles, and some air bases, preferably right before they’re about to be used. This is the same approach that failed in Iraq and it’s also the same approach Israel used to use against Hamas also in an effort to deter attacks, minimize casualties and avoid escalation.

And then Oct 7 happened. Since then, the Israeli military strategy has been to destroy Hamas forces as functioning units rather than target its rocket stockpiles. And it worked. Hamas, like the Houthis, had learned to fire off rockets or drones from disposable locations before running away. Even when rocket stockpiles are taken out, the terrorists can go ahead and build more.

Rockets can be replaced, but organized forces that have trained together are harder to replace. That’s what Israel demonstrated. And it worked. Even though Israel didn’t specifically focus on taking out Hamas rockets, the rocket attacks dropped sharply because there’s no one to shoot them. When rockets are targeted, the terrorists run away and regroup, but when the terrorists are targeted, they have to keep running, so they don’t have the time and space to regroup.

(That is what the proposed hostage deal and the various calls for a ‘ceasefire’ are really about.)

Biden is unwilling to target the Houthis and so they keep attacking.

After two months and over four rounds of larger attacks, the Houthi command and control operations, and their forces, remain intact even if they lost some infrastructure along the way.

This might be excusable if, like Bush in Iraq, Biden really believed that what he was doing would work, but he admitted in a direct quote to the press that he knows what he’s doing won’t work.

Beyond the damage to shipping and the prestige of the United States, two Navy SEALS are dead because the commander-in-chief pursued a military strategy that he knew would fail.

Biden had two options in Yemen. He could either hit the Houthis hard or let them do what they wanted. Both were politically untenable. It would be too politically damaging to go into the primaries inflicting sizable casualties on an Arab Muslim terror group that his pro-terror supporters love and now chant at pro-Hamas ‘ceasefire’ rallies, “turn another ship around.”

But doing nothing while shipping slowed down and prices rose would also be damaging.

Given a choice between alienating the country and his party’s terror supporters, he chose a middle ground of ‘show’ strikes like the kind that Bill Clinton had deployed against Osama bin Laden that will avoid offending terror supporters but also will not end the Houthi attacks.

This strategy serves no one except Biden who has sacrificed the nation’s prestige, a major international waterway and the lives of two U.S. Navy SEALS to win an election.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Iran-Backed Houthis Sentence 13 to Public Execution on Homosexuality Charges

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The left loves the Houthis because the Houthis hate the Jews.

Queers for Palestine held a sign that said “Thank you Houthis.”

Wrap your head around that.

Houthis sentence 13 to public execution on homosexuality charges – report

“The [Houthis] are ramping up their abuses at home while the world is busy watching their attacks in the Red Sea,” said Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen researcher for Human Rights Watch.

By Jerusalem Post, January 8, 2024:

A court of the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen has sentenced 13 people to public execution on homosexuality charges, the French wire service AFP reported on Tuesday. Another 35 people have been detained for similar charges.

The ruling was made in Ibb, a Houthi-controlled province from which the jihadist group has been launching attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, opening a war that reached its four-month mark this week.

The Houthis have a history of sentencing more people to death than they actually execute, according to a 2022 report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, which counted 350 death sentences by the group since 2014, only 11 of which have resulted in execution. But the group’s attacks on global trade could change this calculus.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

U.S. Navy Shoots Down 24 Houthi Drones And Missiles In Biggest Attack So Far

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U.S. destroyers shot down 24 drones and missiles fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, constituting the largest attack on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since tensions escalated in October, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed Tuesday.

The Department of Defense is operating a panoply of naval assets in the region as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a U.S.-led coalition to defend critical waterways from repeated threats by the Houthis. Three guided-missile destroyers, the USS Mason, USS Gravely and USS Laboon, and F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier engaged the mix of drones and missiles fired Tuesday, CENTCOM said in a statement.

 An initial assessment showed no damage or injuries to either the U.S. warships engaged in the firefight or any of the dozens of commercial vessels in the vicinity, according to CENTCOM.

The U.S. intercepted 18 Iranian-made one-way attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile in a combined effort at around 9:15 p.m. local time, the statement added.

CENTCOM reiterated a Jan. 3 warning from the U.S. and partners against the Houthis launching further attacks. “The Houthis will bear the responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the statement said.

Over the weekend, the Laboon shot down a single explosive-laden drone in “self-defense,” CENTCOM said. It was the first time the military had characterized an engagement as taking place in self- defense, although it has said that previous one-way attack drones were inbound before the warships neutralized them.

Prior to Tuesday, the largest single onslaught took place on Dec. 16, when the USS Carney shot down 14 attack drones that came at the destroyer in a wave without any sign of commercial vessels nearby.

U.S. military assets in the Red Sea now include 130 aircraft and the vessels assigned to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, carrying about 4,000 sailors and Marines, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said at a briefing Wednesday.

“As the president has made clear, the United States does not seek conflict with any nation or actor in the Middle East, nor do we want to see the war between Israel and Hamas widen in the region,” Kirby said. “But neither will we shrink from the task of defending ourselves, our interests, our partners, or the free flow of international commerce.”

Members of Congress have raised concerns in recent days over Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s unannounced hospitalization, during which top national security leaders and the president were unaware he had been hospitalized for at least three days. While Austin’s deputy performed some routine operational duties, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle worried the apparent breakdown in chain of command could hinder the U.S.’ ability to respond to global tensions.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Investigative reporter, defense.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

No One Was Running the Pentagon as U.S. Navy Fought Iran-Backed Terrorists

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Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico.

Is this an outrage or a perfect metaphor for this administration in which no one is in the driver’s seat? Sometimes literally.

Amid tensions in the Middle East, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized, including spending four days in the intensive care unit, according to two senior administration officials.

The Pentagon did not inform senior officials in the White House’s National Security Council of Austin’s hospitalization until Thursday — three days after he arrived at Walter Reed Medical Center, a U.S. official confirms. Politico first reported the delay.

Austin is 70. There was a time when Donald Rumsfeld was considered on the old side, but his first time on the job, he had been in his 40s. Dick Cheney was actually in his late 40s during the Reagan administration, Bill Cohen was in his late 50s and Bob McNamara was in his forties.

But by the standards of the Biden administration, Austin is ‘the kid’. Still an administration with a lot of people past retirement age should probably be more prepared for medical emergencies by senior staff.

Since Austin is 11 years younger than Joe Biden, they probably figured there was nothing to worry about. But spending 4 days in the ICU is not a joke. This suggests something serious was going on.

And so no one was running the Pentagon while we were clashing with Iran’s Houthi-backed Jihadis.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was on leave, has picked up his duties, the senior defense official said.

Hicks was on pre-scheduled leave when Austin was hospitalized this week, according to a defense official. She has been on vacation in Puerto Rico, the official said.

She “has maintained full communication with the DOD staff throughout,” the official said. “She has monitored DOD’s day-to-day operations and conducted some routine business.”

Zoom.

Austin’s number two was on vacation (and no one told her to scrap her vacation because your boss, who is a rather vital figure, is undergoing surgery, and you should probably stay home.

And even afterward, she “maintained full communications” while on vacation.

This is the sort of nonsense we’d have expected from a fourth-rate European NATO member country twenty years ago where nothing really matters anyway and the military just exists to occasionally show up at parades.

I don’t even understand this insane level of ineptitude and disregard for basic protocol. But then again I also don’t understand how national security secrets keep being leaked by guys arguing on video game forums.

(By the way if you want to know what Kathleen’s qualifications are to head the Pentagon, don’t ask. It will only depress you further.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Here Are All The Times US Troops Have Shot Down Drones And Missiles Launched By Iran-Backed Groups Since October

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  • U.S. forces in the Middle East have shot down at least 50 drones and 11 missiles since the Oct. 17 escalation in attacks by Iran-backed militias, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation tally.
  • U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 106 times, a Department of Defense official told the DCNF.
  • Meanwhile, naval forces in the Red Sea have defended against 46 attack drones and saved commercial shipping vessels from ballistic missiles the Yemen-based Houthi rebel group fired.

U.S. troops in the Middle East have engaged more than 50 drones and at least 11 missiles, including ballistic missiles, fired by Iranian proxy groups, since the Oct. 17 escalation in attacks, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation tally.

The Iran-backed militias conducting drone and missile attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria and on commercial shipping in the Red Sea have framed their activities as a means of opposing Israel in its war on the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza, and Washington’s alleged underwriting of the conflict that began Oct. 7. In the process of defending against those attacks, U.S. forces have downed dozens of drones and missiles targeting or nearing American personnel, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) statements, media reports and claims by the militia groups show.

The Pentagon says it aims to prevent a wider war from cascading across the Middle East and has moved to bolster air defenses at bases throughout the region.

A Department of Defense (DOD) official told the DCNF on Friday afternoon the Pentagon has counted at least 106 attacks on U.S. forces Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. CENTCOM has confirmed only six drones successfully intercepted during those attacks, but media reports suggest the number could be much higher.

The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a coalition of various Iran-backed militant groups, through its semi-official Iraq War Media social media channel issued another claim on Friday accompanied by footage of rocket launches.

The first attack took place on Oct. 17, when the U.S. military and coalition forces fended off three explosive-laden drones bearing down on U.S. troops stationed in Iraq in two different incidents, CENTCOM said in a press release. The next day, two sites in Syria hosting American and partner troops came under attack; one of the drones was shot down before it could cause damage, while the other one caused minor injuries to personnel at the al-Tanf coalition garrison.

Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia, had threatened to attack U.S. military bases with missiles, special forces and drones if the U.S. intervened militarily in support of Israel, Reuters reported.

Rockets and drones pummeled the Ain al-Asad air base near Baghdad later on Oct. 19. On Oct. 23, U.S. troops shot down two more kamikaze drones in Syria with unspecified defensive systems, Pentagon officials confirmed. Rockets rained down at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad again on Oct. 24, Reuters reported, citing two Iraqi security sources.

The Pentagon warned Iran and its proxy militias in the Middle East intended to further escalate conflict by attacking U.S. troops based in the region.

Dozens of troops have sustained minor injures, and one American contractor died during a false alarm.

On Oct. 25, one attack was recorded at a location in northern Syria on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported, citing U.S. officials. Three rockets were aimed at the outpost and one landed inside, although no troops were injured.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed dozens of attacks, not all of which have been verified as successful. They continued through November and December.

Christmas day saw the most significant casualty of all the attacks when an explosive drone apparently crashed into Erbil Air Base in Iraq, wounding two American service members and leaving a third in critical condition, the Pentagon said. In retaliation, President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes on “Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups focused specifically on UAV activities,” damaging facilities used to make drones and likely killing or wounding multiple militants.

It was the fourth round of airstrikes Biden ordered on facilities associated with the militant groups and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which oversees Tehran’s proxy operations, since Oct. 27.

Additionally, U.S. and coalition forces have defended bases as militants were planning or in the process of conducting strikes, recording casualties.

Separately, U.S. Naval forces in the Red Sea have downed at least 46 attack drones and 11 missiles the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched, according to a DCNF tally. The USS Carney guided-missile destroyer intercepted three land-attack cruise missiles and eight drones that appeared intended to strike Israel on Oct. 19, USNI News reported, citing a preliminary Pentagon after-action report.

Since then, CENTCOM has documented 23 attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, according to a statement. U.S. destroyers and fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier scrambled to respond.

In the latest incident, Houthi rebels on four small boats fired small arms and crew-served guns at U.S. helicopters while attempting to board a Maersk container ship early Sunday, the first time the Pentagon has confirmed Houthi militants directly targeted American military personnel. U.S. helicopters fired back, killing militants and sinking three of the skifs, the military said.

Saturday night, the Gravely shot down two more anti-ship ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis, according to CENTCOM.

The Pentagon is documenting attacks on international shipping on a case-by-case basis, the DOD official told the DCNF.

“Often times if multiple munitions are fired in quick succession, that would count as once ‘incident.’ However, it really depends on the timing and sequence of events during a period of time,” the official said.

U.S. warships downed drones twice in November and responded to an attempted strike on commercial ship with anti-ship ballistic missiles, CENTCOM has said. Incidents increased in frequency in December; on one occasion, the USS Carney shot down 14 attack drones that came at the destroyer in a wave, without any evidence of warship nearby.

Dec. 3 proved an especially tense day as the UUS Carney guided-missile destroyer responded to three separate distress calls as the commercial ships came under attack from an onslaught of drones and ballistic missiles from areas occupied by the Iran-backed militant group, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. In the process of rendering support to the ships, the Carney downed three Houthi drones but CENTCOM said it was too early to determine whether a U.S. Navy vessel was also a target.

“These attacks represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security. They have jeopardized the lives of international crews representing multiple countries around the world. We also have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran,” CENTCOM said in the statement.

U.S. naval assets downed a dozen suicide drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles and two land-based cruise missiles the Houthis fired toward the Red Sea over a 10-hour period on Dec. 26, the military said in a statement.

In a statement, the Houthi military spokesperson affirmed the group’s “continued support and support of the Palestinian people as part of their religious, moral and humanitarian duty” and reiterated intentions to attack any commercial vessel tied to Israeli owners or destined for Israel.

Shipping in the Red Sea has decreased dramatically to the Houthi threat, as successful strikes have sparked fires on board merchant vessels and tankers, while U.S. forces continue to take down missiles.

The Pentagon announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational task force aimed at safeguarding shipping through the critical waterway, on Dec. 18. Major freight companies say they still plan to reroute around Cape of Good Hope, CNN reported.

So far, the Pentagon has not confirmed whether the Houthis aimed for any drones heading directly for U.S. warships to impact on those ships, reportedly to avoid provoking further tensions as the region is simmering over the war between Israel and Gaza. The Biden administration has also refrained from directly targeting Houthi launch sites.

“President Biden’s perceived weakness by our enemies is leading to escalating attacks against our servicemembers and lawful commercial shipping. These attacks will continue until these terrorists understand that their actions will have severe consequences.” Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Investigative reporter, defense.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Group Biden Removed From Terror List Storms U.S. Embassy in Yemen, Takes Hostages

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My latest in PJ Media:

Isn’t great that America is back and the adults are back in charge? America is back, all right: all the way back to 1979, the last time we had a president so weak that enemies of the United States stormed one of our embassies and took hostages. On Thursday, the Yemeni media outlet Al-Masdar Online reported that Houthi jihadis in Yemen, which are backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, stormed our embassy in Sana’a, seizing “large quantities of equipment and materials.” Just days before that, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), they “kidnapped three Yemeni nationals affiliated with the U.S. Embassy.” Biden’s team promised America would be back, but didn’t say anything about Jimmy Carter coming around again as well.

A State Department spokesman confirmed the Yemeni report, saying: “The United States has been unceasing in its diplomatic efforts to secure their release. The majority of the detained have been released, but the Houthis continue to detain additional Yemeni employees of the embassy.” They are being “detained without explanation and we call for their immediate release.” The U.S., the spokesman continued, is “concerned about the breach of the compound” and is calling “on the Houthis to immediately vacate it and return all seized property.”

Yeah, I’ll bet the Houthis are shaking with fear now. Because Biden’s handlers are really going all out on this one: deploying the Navy? Sending in the Marines? Immediately imposing crippling sanctions? Come on, man! The Biden team, said the State wonk, “will continue its diplomatic efforts to secure the release of our staff and the vacating of our compound, including through our international partners.” That’ll show ‘em.

Contrast that weak and uninspired response with what is going on among the Houthis themselves. Last June, according to MEMRI, the Houthis’ Al-Eman TV featured an Islamic scholar, Dr. Ahmad Al-Shami, telling a room full of children that “the scam of 9/11 was a theatrical show produced by the Jews and the Americans. They killed a group of their own people so that they could have a pretext.… All of this is done under the pretext of fighting terrorism, which ‘emerged from your midst of Muslims and Arabs.’” Al-Shami declared: “When we say ‘Death to America,’ it means life for all the nations that America is killing. When we say ‘Death to Israel,’ it means life for all the people, around the world, in whose killing and corruption Israel is taking part.”

The students then began chanting “Allahu akbar! Death to America! Death to Israel! Curse be upon the Jews! Victory to Islam!”

Charming. Yet when Donald Trump had the Houthis designated as foreign terrorists, the Leftist political and media establishment was (as always regarding anything and everything Trump did) outraged. No fewer than twenty-two aid groups that were operating in Yemen demanded that the designation be revoked “immediately,” and when his handlers gained control of the presidency, Old Joe Biden did just that. Trump was right again. If any group deserves to be considered foreign terrorists, it’s the Houthis.

There is more. Read the rest here.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Group Biden Removed From Terror List Show Gratitude by Screaming ‘Death to America!’

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My latest in PJ Media:

When Donald Trump had the Yemeni Shi’ite Houthis, a client group of the Islamic Republic of Iran, designated as foreign terrorists, the Leftist political and media establishment was (as always regarding anything and everything Trump did) outraged. No fewer than twenty-two aid groups that were operating in Yemen demanded that the designation be revoked “immediately,” and when his handlers gained control of the presidency of the United States, Old Joe Biden did just that. But in this case as in so many others, Trump turns out to have been right again. If any group deserves to be considered foreign terrorists, it’s the Houthis.

In May, the U.S. Navy seized thousands of assault weapons, machine guns, and sniper rifles from a ship that appeared to have been heading to Yemen to aid the Houthis. Those were likely intended to be used against Saudi Arabia, but two weeks after Biden’s handlers revoked the terror designation, Yemeni political analyst Salim Al-Muntaser made it clear that the Houthis (who call themselves Ansar Allah, or Helpers of Allah) had another goal in mind as well: the end of the American presence in the Middle East. Al-Muntaser boasted that “Ansar Allah’s strikes have worn Saudi Arabia down, and have turned their American weapons into scrap metal. The advanced American Patriot missiles cannot intercept drones and ballistic missiles that are considered primitive. Therefore, there is no longer any significance to American presence in the Middle East. Soon we will witness a complete American withdrawal.”

This would, he said, lead to the destruction of Israel: “After that, there is no doubt that the Zionist entity will not be strong enough to face the resistance axis. I will not be surprised, and I expect that missiles will be launched from Saada and Sanaa in Yemen towards the so-called ‘Tel-Aviv’ and the Zionist entity will be destroyed.” Turning his attention to the Houthis’ patrons in Tehran, he added: “The Islamic Republic does not need the nuclear agreement. It does not need to sit at the negotiating table. It is the Americans and the Zionists who needs this. They are terrified by the thought that the Islamic Republic would produce nuclear weapons and exterminate the Zionist entity.”

There may be very good reasons for the U.S. to reduce its presence in the Middle East, and for our new woke military to give up both Wilsonian adventurism in the Islamic world and social engineering among the troops, and concentrate instead on actually defending the United States. However, Al-Muntaser made it clear that the Houthis were an entity that is hostile to the United States. For Old Joe’s bosses to take them off the foreign terrorist list was just as wrongheaded as their relentless appeasement of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and, in fact, was another manifestation of that appeasement.

There is more. Read the rest here.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.