Renewed conflicts are popping off in Gaza, in Yemen, and possibly next in Lebanon once again. US Central Command has this month restarted air raids against Houthi positions in Yemen, having launched at least three successive waves of attacks last week, in operations which soon after were dubbed ‘continuing’.
Now the Pentagon is beefing up the Navy’s warship presence in the region. The Associated Press has reported that “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a rare move, is beefing up the Navy warship presence in the Middle East, ordering two aircraft carriers to be there next month as the US increases strikes on the Yemen-based Houthi rebels, according to a US official.”
Typically there is only one carrier in the region, with two signifying a much greater war-readiness. As part of the move Hegseth signed orders to keep the USS Harry S. Truman in the Middle East for an additional month.
This despite the Houthis (Ansarallah movement) seeking to target the carrier as it traverses the Red Sea and regional waters. The Pentagon has yet to ever say that the carrier has been hit, or been close to getting struck – though the Houthis have claimed some five attempted recent drone and missile attacks on it.
“And Hegseth has ordered the USS Carl Vinson, which has been operating in the Pacific, to begin steaming toward the Middle East, which will extend its scheduled deployment by three months,” the AP report continues.
“The Vinson is expected to arrive in the region early next month. It had been conducting exercises with Japanese and South Korean forces near the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan and was slated to head home to port in San Diego in three weeks,” it adds.
This new carrier show of force in the Middle East region came within days of President Trump freshly warning that the Houthis will be completely annihilated if they don’t immediately halt their drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea, and also as CENTCOM confirmed it is engaged in “continuous operations against Iran-back Houthi terrorists.”
Below is a map showing the current distribution of US naval assets around the globe, courtesy of Stratfor.
Trump’s warning on Truth Social had continued, “Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get progressively worse — It’s not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!”
Yet the Houthis have vowed they will not back down. According to an earlier Houthi statement in response to American military action:
“After engaging with our armed forces, US aircraft carrier retreated as far as 1,300 km north of the Red Sea,” Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Monday.
“We are confronting US aggression by targeting its aircraft carrier, warships, and naval vessels, with greater escalation options if it persists. If the situation and responsibility require us to take a bigger step or bigger action, we will not hesitate, and we are ready for this option,” Houthi said during a televised speech.
The Defense Minister in the Ansarallah-led National Salvation Government, Major General Mohammed al-Atifi, also confirmed that the YAF “[is] ready to develop the confrontation in a manner commensurate with the scale of the challenge and any emergency.”
“The naval battle against the Israeli enemy, following its violation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, is not like before,” Atifi said.
🚨🇺🇸SECOND U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER SENT AS MIDDLE EAST ERUPTS
The Pentagon is sending the USS Carl Vinson to join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East, boosting firepower as war spreads beyond Gaza.
Trump says the Houthis will be “completely annihilated” and warned Iran of… https://t.co/8EhW119Bym pic.twitter.com/S1uCpX31TI
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 22, 2025
One question for Americans which remains is: where’s Congress? One regional Mideast publication has observed there’s a growing divide in Trump’s base over the Yemen response – ‘Discordant’ How Trump’s attacks on the Houthis split his Republican base.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 03/23/2025 – 14:35
