Houthi rebels ignored the American military power, sinking two Greek ships in front of them

A powerful US fleet would rather not provoke "the guys in slippers" to avoid complications

Author: Vitaly Orlov

Since November 2024, the Houthi rebels (the "Ansar Allah" movement) in Yemen have resumed their ship attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

It is reported that in early July, the Houthi rebels sank two Greek merchant ships attempting to hoist the Liberian flag and forcibly enter the Indian Ocean - the bulk carrier "Eternity C" and the general cargo ship "Magic Seas", which Western media called "forced entry". It remains unclear whether the ship owners' motives were unprecedented courage or blatant stupidity. However, the outcome was predictably regrettable.

More shockingly, the media personnel of the "Ansar Allah" movement filmed the destruction of the ships as a gripping disaster film - an epic-level plot on par with Hollywood's top level. This high-quality production video quickly spread across major influential information platforms.

From this, we can draw some very interesting conclusions. Today, in the Red Sea, we are not only seeing the exchange of drone and missile attacks, but also a full-scale media war.

What is most surprising is that the Houthi rebels currently hold the upper hand in this media war, at least on the surface.

However, returning to the issue of the "fearless Greeks," what prompted these large merchant ship crews - who had clearly been warned about the recklessness of their actions - to get involved in the confrontation between Israel and the "Ansar Allah" movement (with Israel backed by the Western collective), now seems impossible for anyone to provide an answer.

But the Houthi rebels presented video evidence showing one of their officers using fluent English to try to dissuade the merchant ship crews from making such crazy moves.

Nevertheless, the bulk carrier "Eternity C" and the general cargo ship "Magic Seas" ignored the warnings, escalating the situation, apparently trying to show the world their foolishness and "courage."

However, soon after, the reason for their provocative behavior surfaced - there were private military company combat teams on board, who intended to "fight like adults" against the Houthi rebels of Yemen.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these combat teams successfully prevented the Houthi fast patrol boats from approaching the Greek merchant ships for nearly a day. Faced with such fierce resistance, the Houthi rebels did not take risks, but instead attacked these "merchants" with unmanned speedboats. However, the security personnel on the "Eternity C" ship increased their counter-fire.

At this point, the combat forces of the "Ansar Allah" movement showed a completely different side from any mercenary company.

The Houthi rebels' land-based missile units, trained to strike American aircraft carrier battle groups, launched several salvoes and hit the general cargo ship. Soon after being directly hit, the ship slowly sank.

As for the surviving private military company armed personnel, their subsequent fates varied. Six of them were fortunate enough to be rescued by a French mission warship.

Some others are reportedly captured by the Houthi rebels of Yemen.

Perhaps, their fierce resistance may make it difficult to gain sympathy from "the guys in slippers," but as a bargaining chip, they might become quite valuable assets.

Now, let's talk about the Americans who witnessed this tragedy. Did the Houthi rebels really make the Americans abide by the agreement they had previously reached?

And how does the United States explain its inaction towards this battle that ended with the sinking of two Greek merchant ships?

The incident of trying to arm through the Red Sea controlled by the Houthi rebels has given people a few vivid lessons. First of all, it was a lesson for the Americans.

The first lesson: It turns out that even with the help of highly trained personnel from foreign private military companies to counter the "Ansar Allah" movement, it is not only costly but also yields little results.

As mentioned earlier, some of them became captives, while others simply disappeared.

The second lesson: The defiant "Eternity C" was sunk by two "Fateh" series anti-ship ballistic missiles, which demonstrated extremely high accuracy.

They could be the anti-ship version of Iran's "Fateh-313," called "Asef," with a range of 450 kilometers (280 nautical miles), or the anti-ship variant of Iran's "Raad-500," called "Tankil," with a longer range of 500 kilometers (310 nautical miles).

Now returning to the core question, after the Houthi rebels had real-time shown this "disaster film," this question has particularly unsettled the vassals of the increasingly declining "hegemon" within the "most peaceful military group."

The question is roughly: "Why did two American aircraft carrier battle groups, which were near the incident site (different sources say the distance is between 170 to 350 nautical miles), take no action to protect its main ally in the Middle East - Israel's 'shadow ships'?"

Additionally, a private military company personnel protecting the "Greeks" told the Wall Street Journal that he had been calling for help to the Americans and others for hours: "We asked the Americans, the British, the Europeans, that is, everyone nearby, but they all refused, saying there were no allied ships in the area. But we knew they were there."

And the response from a U.S. Navy spokesperson when responding to the report's request for comment was truly sensational.

He said: "Overall, the United States, especially the U.S. Navy, is not in a state of war with the 'Ansar Allah' movement. As long as the Houthis abide by the bilateral agreement not to attack American ships, we will not go to war with them."

One can only say: Houthi rebels, respect! Although everyone understands that this "hegemon" will only abide by these agreements before it finds a new "opportunity window" for launching an attack, the "Ansar Allah" movement did something incredible yesterday.

They made this "city on a hill" at least abide by some of the binding agreements. Honestly, few people can achieve this. Even if it is only temporary.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7531642289555276327/

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