this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

No civilian causalities...because we've been shooting down all the missiles. The Houthis have been firing off rockets, drones, and missiles pretty indiscriminately at passing cargo boats, some of which do have US nationals aboard. If the US and allies hadn't been there, there's a good chance there'd be a half dozen cargo ships at the bottom of the Red Sea, and then there would be civilian causalities.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

They also fired directly at US warships preceding this attack.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Damn. I wish they hadn't missed.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago

They didn't miss. The missiles were intercepted and shot down, in a variety of ways (F-18 air to air missiles for one, I forget the others).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (14 children)

Hmm. I wonder why they'd fire on a hostile fleet that sailed halfway around the world and that had basically already declared war on them. Particularly when said fleet previously implemented a blockade that caused a famine, which killed hundreds of thousands, mostly children.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

How had the ship "basically declared war on them"? Why is the ship there?

If you fire on someone with a big gun, it should be no surprise when they fire back.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The US & Ansar Allah have been warring for nearly a decade now, regardless of whether the US has formally declared it so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_civil_war_(2014%E2%80%93present)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The brackets broke the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_civil_war_(2014%E2%80%93present)

Edit actually it was that you missed off the last bracket, I think.

In any case, the Yemen civil war is hardly just between two parties, it's a tangled web of proxies. There are actually many allies who are technically fighting against one another through their proxies.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We blockaded their only port that supplies food for the winning side of their defensive war against Saudi Arabia, causing a massive famine and even Cholera to spread killing a fuck ton of civilians.

This is why our threats don't work. It's hard to threaten a population that you've already tried to genocide who then went on to win their war.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago

Saudi Arabia blockaded them, the US joined in but then left relatively early on.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do you think the US hadn't already planned to do airstrikes on Yemen? Ansarallah already knew what they were up to. The ships are there to punish Yemen for daring to oppose the genocide in Israel, which they clearly can relate to, having been genocided by the US and Saudis just recently.

Ansarallah clearly stated they would stop if there was a ceasefire in Gaza, and they attacked ships going to Israeli ports. But I guess if they try to blockade Israel, and take seriously their (and every state's) duty under international law to stop genocide, that's bad, but if the US blockades Yemen causing a genocidal famine, that's just dandy?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The US plans for a lot of situations, as does any competent military. Are you trying to say that the US intended to make these strikes all along, rather than in retaliation for strikes against them?

The ships are there to protect trade. Up until now, they have been focused on shooting down missiles and preventing attacks on trade ships. They're also there to bring a bigger gun to protect Israel if anyone wants to jump into war with them. There is an element of bullshit to this, as the US is basically allowing Israel to commit genocide, but at the same time the US is supposed to protect its allies.

Most of the ships that have been targeted by the Houthis were not going to Israeli ports and have no affiliation with Israel. When they have claimed there was some affiliation, it's really obtuse and far fetched - like one guy in a parent company that has no real involvement with the ship or its cargo.

I don't know the specifics of the US' previous blockade or the famine in Yemen. If you can point me to some information on that I'd appreciate it, right now my searches are drowned out in coverage of the latest events. However, the whole conflict in Yemen is a mess of proxy parties fighting on behalf of others, it's a tangled web with no good parties - as usual, the only ones really winning are the people selling weapons.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The US plans for a lot of situations, as does any competent military. Are you trying to say that the US intended to make these strikes all along, rather than in retaliation for strikes against them?

Yes, obviously.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_Yemen

The blockade has contributed to the current famine in Yemen, which the United Nations said may become the deadliest famine in decades. The World Health Organization announced in 2017, that the number of suspected persons with cholera in Yemen reached approximately 500,000 people. In 2018, Save the Children estimated that 85,000 children have died due to starvation in the three years prior.

The U.S. has supported the Arab coalition's intervention in the war, and the United States Navy actively participated in the naval blockade at the beginning of the intervention. In mid-2015, Washington increased its logistical and intelligence support to Saudi Arabia by creating a joint coordination planning cell with the Saudi military to help manage the war.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Jesus Christ as an American this makes me want to vomit. The libs defending this shit are fucking unreal.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Thanks for the link. However, it says that it's a Saudi Arabian blockade, the US participated at the beginning but was not the driving force behind it and did not stay for long.

However, in mid-2016 and amid escalating, international concerns regarding some of the strategic initiatives undertaken by the Saudi Arabian military in the conflict, the U.S. pulled back significantly on its participation in this joint planning cell, reducing its staff commitment to only five US workers.

US involvement since then has primarily been the supply of weapons. Like I say, the only real winners are arms dealers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Supplying weapons goes a lot further than one might think. I remember reading somewhere (please don't make me dig this up), that practically all the ground maintenance staff of the Saudi air force are US personell (maybe private contractors don't remember). Just the pilots are Saudis really. The US supported this war and blockade in various ways all the way through. It should be obvious why Ansarallah thinks the US is their enemy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Oh absolutely, the US are also providing intelligence. However they're not doing the fighting or directing the military activities. But the UK are also doing much of the same, it's just that the US are more proficient at it.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Unless you are all in with Bin Laden's reasons for 9/11, it was Ansarella who attacked the US first. The US military didn't throw a dart at map and bomb Yemen for no particular reason.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

For fuck's sake. Do you think every middle easterner is part of the same terrorist organization, or why the fuck would you bring up an al-Qaeda attack in 2000 to justify bombing a Shia group in 2024?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

US involvement since then has primarily been the supply of weapons.

Yeah that's a big deal.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

But it's still not a war between the US and Yemen.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (12 children)

They’d only have been at the bottom of the sea if they’d tried to run the blockade despite ample warning.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

If the US and allies hadn’t been there, there’s a good chance there’d be a half dozen cargo ships at the bottom of the Red Sea

good

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ansarallah already showed the world what a boarding operation would look like.

The crew is safe and being treated as appropriate by Islamic law.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah that doesn't make hijacking a boat and taking the crew hostage okay by any stretch of the imagination

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Does that include Iranian ships, or do you have a double standard for the US?

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