In this file picture, aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is seen cruising off the coast of Southern California. (Photo by AFP)
Sanaa, June 24 (RHC)-- Yemen has reacted to the upcoming deployment of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier in West Asia and the departure of its predecessor USS Dwight D. Eisenhower from the Red Sea, urging incoming U.S. Marines to “learn their lesson” from the fate of their outgoing counterparts.
“We advise Marines aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier to inquire about the situation of their counterparts on USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and learn their lesson,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said.
Houthi was referring to the multiple maritime operations that Yemeni naval units have carried out against Eisenhower aircraft carrier in response to U.S. and British strikes on Yemen, and in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been reeling from a no-holds-barred Israeli war since October 7 last year.
The U.S. military said the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) has departed the Red Sea after more than eight months of deployment.
The USNI News later reported that the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), currently in the Pacific, will leave for West Asia to continue a U.S. presence mission in the region. The announcement came hours after Yemeni Army’s Spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Saturday the country’s naval units had conducted a missile attack on US aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea.
Saree said that the USS Eisenhower was targeted “directly” by several ballistic and cruise missiles. Hazam al-Assad, a member of Ansarullah’s political bureau, also stated that Yemeni forces will press ahead with their pro-Palestinian operations.
“Attacks against U.S., British, and Israeli interests will continue. This is in line with Yemen’s unwavering support for the Palestinians in Gaza,” he said.
Yemeni naval forces have carried out two separate maritime time operations against a commercial vessel and the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower in solidarity with Palestinians, and in response to US and British strikes on Yemen.
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity. The Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.
Israel has killed nearly 37,600 people and wounded over 85,900 individuals in Gaza since October.
Leader of the Ansarullah resistance movement Abdul-Malik al-Houthi has said it is “a great honor and blessing to be confronting America directly.”
The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes. Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.
