Strategic expert: America may support a ground war to topple the Houthis in Yemen

A strategic expert said that the United States of America is planning to support a ground war to overthrow the Houthis at the hands of the legitimate government forces in Yemen, as the Iranian-backed militia continues to threaten international shipping traffic.

In an interview with the “Track of Events” program on Al Jazeera, Dr. Liqaa Makki, a senior researcher at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, believed that the air strikes would not eliminate or weaken the Houthis’ capabilities.

Maki believes that America must have a response to the Houthis’ blockade of international shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, suggesting that this will be done by arranging a new ground war to overthrow the Houthis at the hands of the legitimate Yemeni government forces, with support from Western countries that were harmed by the group’s blockade of shipping in the region.

He pointed out that this battle may be left to the new US administration led by President Donald Trump.

In the middle of this month, our country's ambassador to Washington, Mohammed Al-Hadrami, called on the United States of America to support the Yemeni army to liberate the port of Hodeidah, which is under the control of the Houthi militia, in order to protect international navigation in the Red Sea and force the Houthis to engage in peace.

This came during his speech in the US Senate, during which he proposed three measures for the new US strategy, including supporting the liberation of Hodeidah, classifying the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, and targeting their leaders.

Yesterday evening, Sunday, the Houthis announced that they had shot down an F-18 plane while trying to confront American and British planes that had launched raids on Yemen yesterday evening, Saturday, while the American army announced that the plane had been shot down by mistake with friendly fire.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said they also targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and a number of its destroyers, and succeeded in foiling an American-British attack on sites in Yemen late Saturday evening.

The US military announced on Sunday morning that an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet had accidentally crashed over the Red Sea, forcing the pilots to eject, according to the Associated Press.

He said the incident occurred during a mission by the fighter plane that was flying over the aircraft carrier "Harry S. Truman", and explained that one of the accompanying ships, the missile cruiser "Gettysburg", accidentally fired on the plane, which led to its destruction.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Saturday evening that our forces had carried out precise air strikes targeting a missile storage facility and a command and control facility belonging to the Iranian-backed Houthis in Sanaa.

It said it shot down several One-Way Attack Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( OWA UAV ) and an Anti-Ship Cruise Missile ( ASCM ) over the Red Sea.

Since the beginning of this year, a US-led military coalition has been launching attacks on Yemen, saying that they are targeting Houthi sites in response to their attacks in the Red Sea targeting ships linked to Israel and America. The Houthis say that they are in support of Gaza, while the Americans consider them a threat to international navigation.

Source: Yemen Youth Net + Al Jazeera