Yemeni Forces Launch Successful Drone Strike on Central Tel Aviv, Israel: Is the U.S. Navy to Blame?
Middle East , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft , Battlefield
The Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition on July 19 launched a successful drone strike on the centre of Tel Aviv, a city internationally recognised as the Israeli capital. The attack is one of the latest by Yemeni forces against Israeli targets since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militia groups in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. The strike caused several Israeli casualties, including a single death, according to local sources, and impacted near the American consulate in the city. The United States moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, although the vast majority of countries maintain their embassies in the city. Ansurualh Coalition forces reported having “carried out a specific military operation, which consisted of targeting one of the important targets in the occupied Jaffa region, what is now called Israeli Tel Aviv.” Ansurullah notably does not recognise the state of Israel, and thus refers to it as occupied Palestinian territory inhabited by settler colonists predominantly of European origin, with this reflected in the Yemeni group’s rhetoric.
The strike on Tel Aviv saw the first confirmed use of the new Yafa long range drone, which was reportedly designed specifically to be able to bypass enemy air defences. The Ansuruallah Coalition’s strategic partners Iran and Hezbollah have a long history of successful drone operations deep inside Israeli airspace using both stealth and non-stealth aircraft, with Iran reported to have supported the defence sector in Yemen to bolster its drone and cruise missile capabilities. In parallel to their operations against Israel, Yemeni forces have engaged in multiple skirmishes with the U.S. Navy from late 2023, with Western sources widely referring to the operations as the most intense combat the Navy has faced since the Second World War. U.S. Navy F-18E/F Super Hornets and E/A-18G Growler combat jets have engaged Yemeni drones on multiple occasions, and in some instances manned aircraft such as helicopters as well, while Yemeni attacks on American ships have forced the Navy to expend significant quantities of costly SM-2 air defence missiles and AIM-120C/D and AIM-9X air to air missiles for interception.
U.S. Navy operations have been widely criticised for failing to sufficiently erode the Ansuruallah Coalition’s military capabilities or end its ability to threaten Western and Israeli shipping in the Red Sea. The latest strike on Tel Aviv provides one of the most conspicuous demonstrations of this. The campaign has been widely criticised by sources for serving to “undermine America's struggling navy where it's most needed: the Pacific,” and at close to nine months long has drained American resources with few tangible results. The expenditure of significant quantities of missiles, particularly for air defence, has forced the Navy to request considerable additional funding to replenish its stocks, and raised calls for a significant increase to reserves of missiles for American warships. Considering the Ansuruallah Coalition’s limited capabilities, the Navy’s inability to gain a decisive victory has sent a signal to both America’s security partners and to its adversaries across the world that is highly unfavourable to Washington’s interests.
Houthis will soon find out Israeli retribution is extremely unpleasant.
ReplyDeleteNot like soft and weak Sleepy Joe.
Wakakakaka…
DeleteHOW?
With the art of convenient fart?