(Washington Post) Dan Lamothe - The Biden administration is expanding efforts to surveil and intercept Iranian weapons being smuggled to Yemen, where Houthi militants have staged a deadly campaign of violence against commercial shipping that has proved resilient to six weeks of military strikes, said U.S. officials. The initiative seeks to map seafaring routes used by Tehran and stop the arms shipments while in transit. Since November, the U.S. Defense Department has documented at least 105 attacks on merchant vessels off Yemen, including about 40 over the past week. Houthi weapons include one-way attack drones, rockets, ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones that can skim the waves and travel underwater. Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie Jr., a retired Marine Corps general who led CENTCOM from 2019 to 2022, said cutting off the flow of lethal arms from Iran to the Houthis is critical. "We need to recognize that, and we need to put resources against it."
2024-03-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive