The Houthis have long proven that they are very capable of fighting in years of actual combat, but I didn't expect it to be so capable of fighting!
According to the "Global Times" on January 25, Yemen's Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarreya issued a statement the day before, saying that on the same day, Yemen's Houthi rebels clashed with a number of American destroyers protecting two American merchant ships and ** in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which lasted more than two hours, and Yemen's Houthi armed forces used multiple ballistic missiles to directly hit a US ** ship and forced two US merchant ships to evacuate and return.
The other side of the Houthi statement, the United States, has a different version. The U.S. Command also issued a statement saying that the Yemeni Houthis fired three anti-ship ballistic missiles at the USS Maerskdetroit, a container ship flying the flag in the Gulf of Aden, one of which fell into the sea, and the other two missiles were intercepted and shot down by the USS Graveley. There have been no reports of injuries or damage to the boat.
The Houthis said "I hit" and the United States said "you didn't hit", did the Houthis hit the Chinese and American ** ships? After all, the Houthis can indeed fight, but they are too far from the equipment level of the US Navy; The US Navy is indeed very strong, but the Houthis have been fighting wars all year round, have very rich experience in actual combat, and occupy a geographical advantage, so it is not impossible for the weak to defeat the strong. In this way, it is possible that what both sides say is true, or it may be a mixed bag. Before there is no live ** and more news exposed, this is a Rashomon.
But judging from the statements of both sides, two basic facts can be established:
First, the Houthis did clash with a number of U.S. ships protecting two U.S. merchant ships, during which the Houthis fired a number of anti-ship ballistic missiles at U.S. ships, including U.S. ships; Second, under the attack of the Houthis, two US merchant ships reversed course and sailed out of the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden.
But we have seen a strange scene, the Houthis, who are supposed to make a lot of money in silence, continue to provoke the United States in their statements; The United States, which was supposed to take the opportunity to eradicate the Houthis, is furious, but it is trying to minimize the impact of its conflict with the Houthis. So, why did the Houthis insist on hitting the United States? And the United States is going to strenuously deny that its ** was hit?
For the Houthis, it does not matter whether it hits the Chinese and US warships, the important thing is that it deters those countries that support Israel, and even the merchant ships escorted by the United States dare to move, to see which country dares not to pay attention to the Houthis' determination to blockade the Red Sea. In fact, the Houthis have achieved their goals, and more and more pro-Israeli merchant ships have chosen to avoid the Red Sea.
For the United States, whether it has been hit or not, that is something that must not be admitted. The United States, which is "eager to save its father," has been able to veto the Palestinian-Israeli cease-fire resolution at the United Nations again and again, and can provide all kinds of support to Israel, but it does not dare to personally go to the end to save Israel, which is mired in the battlefield in Gaza and is in internal and external difficulties.
On the one hand, Israel's war crimes, crimes, and ethnicity against the Palestinian people have made Israel a "public enemy of the world", and the United States still needs to pay attention to its reputation in the international community; On the other hand, the Russian-Ukrainian war will never see an end, and the ** element Lai Qingde has become the leader of the Taiwan region, and the United States has no skills. Whether it is for the sake of international prestige or to preserve its strength, the United States can only deny that it has been hit, and even if it is hit, it must deny it.
From this point of view, neither side of the Houthi conflict with the United States, which lasted more than two hours, was not the loser, and the only real loser was Israel. The Houthis have the glorious deeds of attacking the United States, and they will surely blockade the Red Sea even more tightly; With the precedent of the United States escorting American merchant ships under attack, not only did Israeli merchant ships dare not cross the Red Sea, but merchant ships from other countries would not venture to cross the Red Sea and dock at Israeli ports.
The longer the time drags on, the more passive Israel becomes. For Netanyahu, he hopes to drag on until the "understanding king" comes to power, and maybe there will be a turnaround. But the problem is that the United States today is not the United States of 20 years ago, and the "understanding of the king" must be leisurely, otherwise it is easy to talk nonsense.