Despite US President Donald Trump’s claim that recent strikes on Yemen had “decimated” the Houthis, government officials have reportedly quietly acknowledged in private that the attacks have been less effective than anticipated, The New York Times reported on Friday.
Pentagon officials reportedly acknowledged that the US was struggling to hit the Houthis’ underground arsenal.
Despite limited success, the attacks have grown fiercer under the Trump administration, the NYT report detailed – reportedly stronger than what the US defense department is willing to admit.
Much of the struggle to decimate Houthi weaponry has come from the Iran-backed terror group’s advanced planning. Three congressional and allied officials told the NYT that the underground bunkers have reportedly been fortified.
Mounting costs
The expense of trying to eliminate the Houthi threat to global shipping and allied nations in the Middle East, the US has reportedly used $200 million worth of munitions – a bill not including the cost of personnel, the deployment of two aircraft carriers and a variety of other resources dedicated to securing the region from the growing terror threat.
By this coming week, the total cost is anticipated to reach a billion dollars, one source told the NYT.
The US has also dedicated resources to defending Israel, its ally in the region, from frequent Houthi aerial attacks. The cost of utilizing THAAD to defend Israel can cost between $12 million and $15 m. per interception, according to a recent report by Walla.
Despite the mounting cost and the frequent attacks Israel faces from the Yemen front, a source previously told The Jerusalem Post that the US had instructed Israel not to attack the Houthis, but rather to leave it up to American forces.
The sources added that while the IAF strikes were carried out successfully in the past, the US believes it has greater capacity to conduct sustained attacks using aircraft stationed on its aircraft carriers.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.