US Navy faces ‘most intense combat since World War II’ against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, defense experts say [Video]

The US is facing its most intense battle since World War II against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, experts say.

“We’re sort of on the verge of the Houthis being able to mount the kinds of attacks that the US can’t stop every time, and then we will start to see substantial damage,” Bryan Clark, a former Navy submariner and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute told the Associated Press.

“If you let it fester, the Houthis are going to get to be a much more capable, competent, experienced force.”

“This is the most sustained combat that the US Navy has seen since World War II — easily, no question,” he said.

Houthi attacks have been targeting ships in the Red Sea corridor with missiles and drones since October as part of a campaign that aims to put pressure on Israel and the West over the war in Gaza.

Between October 17 and the start of May, the Houthis attacked commercial …