Yemeni Operations in the Red Sea Expose US Navy’s Inability to Secure Waters

A recent report by The National Interest described developments in the Red Sea as a “fundamental shift” in modern warfare, where aircraft carriers and destroyers are no longer sufficient guarantees of control.

According to the magazine, the Yemeni Armed Forces have emerged as “the most prominent example of modern military revolution,” challenging US superiority and undermining Washington’s traditional dominance. The Bab al-Mandab Strait, it noted, has transformed into a “testing ground” that has exposed the US Navy’s vulnerability against low-cost missiles and drones.

Yemeni operations have forced global trade routes to bypass the Red Sea and reroute via the Cape of Good Hope, demonstrating their direct impact on international commerce. The report further revealed that the US has spent more than $1 billion within weeks of its campaign against Yemen, yet failed to achieve its stated objective of “securing navigation.”

The escalating cost of the confrontation, the magazine warned, is straining Washington’s ability to shift forces toward the Pacific to counter China, underscoring the broader strategic repercussions of the Yemeni campaign.

The National Interest report concluded that the Yemeni Armed Forces have transcended their role as a local actor, becoming “a global symbol of the new era of asymmetric conflicts” and proof that “the age of unchecked American hegemony has ended.”

The Red Sea has become a central arena in the struggle between the US and regional resistance forces, with Yemen’s military operations challenging long-held assumptions of American naval supremacy.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have declared that their operations in the Red Sea are directly connected to the Israeli enemy’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. By targeting Israeli-linked and US-protected shipping, Yemen aims to impose a naval blockade on the occupation entity in retaliation for the massacres and siege inflicted on the Palestinian people.

This linkage has transformed the Red Sea into both a military and political battleground, where Yemen’s strikes not only expose the fragility of US naval power but also signal a broader strategy of resistance coordination across the region. Analysts argue that by tying maritime disruption to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Yemen has effectively internationalized the cost of the Israeli enemy’s war, forcing global powers to reckon with a new balance of deterrence shaped by resistance forces.