The Biden administration has failed to react thus far to a direct attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen this weekend on a U.S. destroyer and two commercial ships in the Red Sea.
The Times of Israel reported:
In a statement, the US Central Command says the USS Laboon “shot down four unmanned aerial drones originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen that were inbound to” the frigate.
…
It says the Laboon also responded to distress calls after attacks on the M/V BLAAMANEN, a Norwegian-flagged and owned tanker, which was nearly hit by an attack drone, and the M/V SAIBABA, a Gabon-owned, Indian-flagged crude tanker that did suffer a strike.
Last week, the U.S. announced that it had assembled a coalition of nations that would cooperate to deter attacks by the Houthis.
However, it was not clear what kind of naval forces would be deployed. One nation, Spain, appeared to back out of the coalition a few days after being announced as one of its members.
The Pentagon was notably silent about whether the coalition would attack Houthi missile launch sites, or whether it would try to disable Houthi pirate ships in their harbor.
Separately, a commercial tanker was hit by a drone off the coast of India, likely fired by Iran. The crew managed to extinguish the subsequent blaze.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
