Latest Houthi missile attack demonstrates limited scope of US-led airstrikes in Yemen

Last week’s US-led airstrikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen destroyed less than a third of the Iranian proxy group’s overall offensive capabilities, a US official told CNN, with the group maintaining the majority of its ability to strike ships in the Red Sea.

Despite a barrage of strikes last week, including 150 precision-guided munitions fired at nearly 30 sites, the Houthis still have about three-quarters of their ability to target commercial vessels in international shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the official added.

That was apparent Monday, when a Houthi missile hit a US-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea, marking what appears to be the first time the militants have successfully struck a US-owned or operated ship.

Last week’s airstrike was a success as designed – the US destroyed or damaged 93% of the targets it had selected – but some US officials privately acknowledged that it did little to set back the Houthis’ ability to continue striking international shipping.

“Message received and some degradation but we expect a response and don’t believe we have set back their military efforts substantially,” one senior US official said of the strikes.

The limited scope of last week’s operation illustrates the tightrope the Biden administration is walking in the Middle East, where a violent tit-for-tat between Iranian-backed groups and the US and Israel simmers just below the threshold of outright war.

Washington has scrupulously sought to avoid a situation in which attacks by the Houthis and other Iranian-backed groups escalate into a second front of the war between Israel and the terror group Hamas.

Since November, Houthis militants, who receive substantial arms and other support from Iran, have carried out dozens of attacks on international shipping that the group says are in…