The Red Sea is the location of an ongoing yet underreported conflict. The Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, lazily named by the corporate media as the Houthis, began attacking American and British maritime traffic. Why? It is a response to the American-supported Israeli assault on Gaza and the Palestinians. The Yemenis have a long tradition of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Ansar Allah group, by interrupting Red Sea shipping, intend to stop international trade reaching Israel and its allies in the region. Since October last year, the Ansar Allah group has fired hundreds of drones and missiles at targets in the Red Sea. The Yemeni militant group is waging a war of attrition against pro-American forces in its own country, hoping to detach itself economically and politically from the clutches of the United States.

The US responded with tactics eerily reminiscent of those adopted by the now extinct British empire – gunboat diplomacy. The US Navy deployed the aircraft carrier, the hulking USS Dwight D Eisenhower, to the Red Sea area. In the old days of the British empire, whenever the natives would get restless or rebellious, London would send British gunboats to the restive colonies.

The mere sight of massive British gunboats, so London authorities reasoned, would be so intimidating that the rebellious foreigners, quivering in fear, would quickly give up and submit to British rule. Well, that tactic did not work – the natives still fought for their independence. Apparently the authorities in Washington ignored the lessons of history.

With the Ansar Allah Yemenis attacking cargo shipping, surely they need to be taught a lesson in American power? We have all watched the Top Gun movies, where the aircraft carrier is the sanctuary. A safe and powerful presence in a dangerous world, surely the mere sight of the imposing USS Eisenhower would dissuade the rebellious Yemenis from continuing their destructive campaign?

Operation Prosperity Guardian is the official name of the US-led military campaign to stop Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. Inaugurated in December 2023, the US and its coalition partners (a handful of token contributions made by American allied nations) would surely easily defeat these ragtag Yemeni rebels.

What Washington, London and Ottawa forgot to mention is that the Ansar Allah group can strike back – successfully. The US Navy spokespeople have admitted that the Red Sea confrontation has involved the heaviest, sustained and ferocious battles experienced since World War Two.

The Telegraph, a British newspaper which unfailingly encourages US wars overseas, admitted that the Houthis have defeated the US Navy. Not only have the massive, hulking aircraft carriers of the US Navy failed to deter Houthi attacks, the Red Sea is the scene of numerous exchanges of drones and missile fire.

The Ansar Allah has not only maintained its attacks, but its campaign has become even more diverse and sophisticated. Small arms fire, hijackings, and ballistic missiles are tactics practiced by the Yemeni rebel group. American sailors, returning from their Red Sea deployment, describe being traumatised by the experience – actually being fired upon by your enemies.

In July this year, the USS Eisenhower returned home from its Red Sea, after months of unrelenting attacks and strikes by the Ansar Allah forces. The NY Times tried to put a brave face on what was a failed mission.

Maritime trade through the Red Sea has declined by 90 percent since the start of Operation Prosperity Guardian. What was supposed to be a cakewalk for the US Navy has turned into an un-winable quagmire. Speaking of which, this past August was the third anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, another conflict that was supposed to be a walk in the park, but turned into a humiliating defeat for the United States.

Jonathan Hoffman, writing in the New Arab magazine, states that after nine months, the Houthis remain undeterred in their course of action. While Washington likes to present its maritime campaign as purely retaliatory and necessary in confronting ‘evil’ Houthis, the latter have consistently stated their motivations.

What motivates the Ansar Allah group in the Red Sea is Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, and Washington’s unstinting support for that war. The Gaza war, and its horrendous toll of Palestinian lives, is the original catalyst for the maritime campaign by the Houthis. The major trading powers, such as the US, Britain, France and others, have continued their voluminous trade with Israel, enabling its war machine to continue unimpeded.

Let’s not forget that every one of the US Navy’s missiles that is fired costs millions of dollars to replace. The US military has a bloated, gargantuan budget. The Pentagon has already allocated billions for missile production. That is not considering the multi year 2 trillion-dollar plan to upgrade and modernise nuclear weapons. All this while America’s aging infrastructure is deteriorating and buckling in heatwave conditions.

The US aircraft carrier had its time in World War Two. Today, it is a relic, an antiquated structure from a bygone era of gunboat diplomacy. Its purported intimidatory value is now as defunct as the British empire. It is time to re-examine the swollen military budget, and reallocate money to spending on public and social needs.