Pentagon officials highlight difference in US approach to Houthi campaign
Senior US military and defense officials said Monday that the Trump administration is taking a different approach to countering Yemen’s Houthis than had been adopted under the Biden administration, including delegating decision-making authorities to operational commanders.
This campaign began over the weekend, with the US strikes hitting over 30 targets at multiple locations and degrading a variety of Houthi capabilities, according to Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich.
The targets included terrorist training sites, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) infrastructure, weapons manufacturing capabilities and weapon storage facilities, he added.
“It also included a number of command-and-control centers, including a terrorist compound where we know several senior Houthi [UAV] experts were located,” Grynkewich told reporters during a briefing.
Another round of strikes was carried out on Sunday against more headquarters locations, weapons storage facilities and detection capabilities that the Houthis have used to threaten maritime shipping.
“Today, the operation continues, and it will continue in the coming days until we achieve the President’s objectives,” Grynkewich said, speaking alongside Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell.
Parnell said this would not be endless offensive. “This is not about regime change in the Middle East; this is about putting American interests first,” he said, adding: “There is a very clear end state to this operation, and that begins the moment that the Houthis pledge to stop attacking our ships and putting American lives at risk.”
President Donald Trump ordered the campaign against the Houthis following his early executive order to redesignate the group as a foreign terrorist organization.
Administration officials have held several meetings with US military officials to discuss options for going after the Houthis. Asked what would be different about this campaign as opposed to that conducted under former
President Joe Biden, the Pentagon said there was a much broader list of targets now.
Grynkewich said one key difference between the campaign under Biden and now was the delegation of authorities from the president through the secretary of defense down to the operational commander. “So that allows us to achieve a tempo of operations where we can react to opportunities that we see on the battlefield in order to continue to put pressure on the Houthis,” he said.
