President Biden is facing a persistent issue with the Houthi group that does not seem to be going away. This situation is causing major problems for the global shipping industry as both military and commercial ships are being attacked repeatedly in and around the Red Sea, creating a sense of déjà vu.
In response, the US Central Command has been carrying out counterattacks to defend against these assaults. For example, on June 29, they targeted 14 Houthi sites, resulting in the destruction of radar sites, unmanned aerial systems, vehicles, and vessels.
But the White House needs a new approach to defeat the Yemen-based Houthis — one that must include addressing their Iranian sponsors.
Despite the US Central Command’s efforts to safeguard freedom of navigation and enhance safety in international waters, their incremental approach has proven ineffective. This ongoing situation is placing unnecessary strain on US carriers and other military resources in the region.
Interdicting individual unmanned aerial and sea drones along with radar sites will not end, let alone defeat, the Houthi threat.
To do that, the US and its allies must strike Houthi launch sites and crews, weapons-storage facilities, guidance systems and command-and-control centers — and must halt the flow of weapons and munitions coming from Iran.
Biden must also embrace the tactic of kinetically targeting Houthi leadership, as Israel has done with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Retired US Navy Adm. James Stavridis has argued that an offensive campaign consisting of four phases — intelligence gathering, strikes against command-and-control centers, strikes against physical infrastructure, and severing the Houthis’ Iranian supply chain — is needed to accomplish the mission.
Biden should listen.
Stavridis, the former commander of the US European Command and supreme allied commander of NATO, successfully led the counter-piracy mission in the Red Sea and off the Horn of Africa for four years.
As he rightly notes, it’s not enough for Biden to play defense: To defeat the enemy, you must “go ashore.”
The key word in Stavridis’ plan is campaign — a series of related major operations aimed at achieving strategic and operational objectives within a given time and space.
Something the Biden White House has not been able to grasp, let alone muster.
After an exhausted USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group departed the region last month, the US Navy’s presence in the Red Sea has been reduced to just two destroyers — the USS Laboon and USS Cole — while CENTCOM awaits the arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.
Meanwhile, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are continuing their assault on commercial shipping and naval vessels.
Since November, the Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, killing four sailors.
The rebels have also seized one commercial vessel and sank two — the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned-and-operated Tutor in mid-June and the Belize-flagged Rubymar in March.
Without consequences, expect more of the same.
Washington must also remain on guard against an expansion of the regional playing board.
The US military base at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti is well within range of Houthi missiles.
Tehran could also leverage the Houthis as part of a wider response to any large-scale attack upon its nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow and elsewhere.
Iran could use the Houthi rebels to block access to the Red Sea while the IRGC shuts down the Straits of Hormuz, creating a global energy crisis by halting shipments of Mideast oil to the Americas, Europe and Indo-Pacific.
On Jan. 17, the State Department announced the designation of Ansarallah — the Houthis — as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, but Washington hasn’t taken action on that declaration.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi recently released a video threatening to attack the USS Theodore Roosevelt with the ground-based “missile forces of the Yemeni Army” when it arrives in the Red Sea.
Biden cannot let that threat go unanswered.
Washington must dislodge the Houthi menace in Yemen, ensure the defeat of IRGC proxies throughout the Middle East — and position Israel to decisively remove the head of this Iranian hydra in Tehran.