Yemeni forces’ costly toll on US Navy in Red Sea, with Jon Elmer

You are watching and listening to the electronic inifatada. I'm John Elmer. This is the resistance report for day 552. Uh it's also 8 months uh 18 months uh year and a half since the war uh began. And we are today on day 40 of a total siege uh of Gaza. No food, no medicine, no fuel, none of the agreed upon um machinery or housing that was supposed to get in. not enough tents, violations of the ceasefire in every way by Israel, including the resumption of the war, um the squeezing of the buffer zones. Let's take a look at the map here so people can get uh our footing. We have uh buffer zone pressed in uh in the north, Beth Hanoon, Bait Lahia um biting into Jibalia, which we'll show you coming up. The Netsim corridor is 60% occupied up to the Salahadin road that you can see running through uh between the words Netzarim and corridor there. So corridor of that word uh is all cut off. There's no road traffic uh along the main north south highway in Gaza. And of course, as Norah reported, complete destruction of Rafa. And as I reported last week on the show, cutting the corridor, the Moore corridor between Rafa and Conunis. Um, Israel has carried out more than 1,000 air strikes. They've killed 500 kids, and they're still not fighting any battles on the ground, face to face with the resistance. They're still operating in the buffer zone, carrying out these massacres with shelling, uh with drone strikes, with air strikes, um consistently at a pace that we uh had not seen in many months towards the end of the war. In a lot of ways, what we're looking at seems uh to match the period of October 2023 when there was massive air strikes, unprecedented air strikes in Gaza. Um we have the same kind of operational tempo this weekend. the uh Israeli military uh said they carried out 150 air strikes just in the two-day weekend. They're carrying 50 a day each day. And that's why you have the uh disgusting toll that Norah uh so well reports on at the beginning of the show. So, if you're just watching this as a segment, you should go and check out uh Norah's news report for the human rights uh situation. If we look at the next map, I'm going to show you a couple of uh Israeli military maps here. These are the um again the appalling uh grid maps that they've been using all throughout this war. But you can see uh the gradein area is the buffer zone. Now this is a a bite out of Jabalia um the Jabalia camp in the north um forcing people out of that area and making an increased buffer zone now more than 2 kilometers in the north. Um if we look at the next um if we look at the next slide you can see here uh in again pressing in Shaya uh east of Gaza city um pressing on the edges of Shajaya but it doesn't matter these evacuation notices they're still bombing on the other side of that evacuation uh notice that you can see there and they killed uh yesterday in a strike 38 people. They're still digging with hand trolls and bare hands because Israel won't allow fuel or machinery into Gaza. Um, eight people are still missing uh in that massacre despite the fact that um Israel claims that these maps are uh warning people about where the strikes are. Abu Oda said a message this week. He said half of the enemy's living captives. So there's 59 captives left in Gaza that believed to be 22 alive. That's me saying that. Back to Abu Oda. Half of the enemy's living captives are located in the areas the occupation army demanded to be evacuated in recent days. We have decided not to transfer these captives from these areas, keeping them under strict security measures, knowing that these measures uh place their lives at extreme risk. And if the enemy is concerned about the lives of these captives, it must negotiate immediately for their evacuation or their release. uh had the Israeli government been concerned about them, the captives, uh it would have adhered to the agreement uh signed in January and most of these uh people would have been home if that was the case. So you can see again just the tightening of the siege, the increasing of the buffer zones uh in Gaza. Um if we look at the next map, this is three. Yeah, this is three. So uh this is an operation in Shajaya. Um, this is a previously dug IED here. This is Sarah Al- Kuds, Islamic Jihad. Um, this was buried before and now you're watching on a closed circuit television camera as Merkova tank enters the eastern edge and you can see in that CCTV footage that they are right on the edge of Shajaya. So, they're they're just pushing the buffer zones, expanding them. They're not moving into builtup areas and fighting the resistance. And it's very difficult for the resistance to to access the buffer zones in many ways um other than the breach of the wall on October 7th, which was a technical feat. Um to attack the Israeli military in the buffer zone is the equivalent to raiding their territory the way they're set up. Um so you can't uh a lot of people asking where the resistance is right now. Um the resistance is asking probably where the Israelis are right now because they're not uh in these areas. There's been operations uh throughout the week that uh demonstrate where um the fighters are that the fighters are on the battlefield. The PFLP, Abu Ali Mustapa brigades, the DFLP national resistance brigade, Saruds um all been capturing drones uh Israeli drones which suggest that those drones are are exiting the buffer zone and are into the battlefield areas where the fighters are. Um so those um are getting captured which gives you an indication but uh the Israeli military speaking to Harets yesterday um said that they've been told to move very very slowly. Army radio reported that as well that their commanders are telling them to not uh to be safe to not uh they're not interested in taking casualties right now. The war is not popular with the soldiers. Um and they're playing it safe. But in playing it safe, they're pushing the buffer zones um and squeezing the population uh of Gaza. So that's Rial Kud's operation was on Sunday, but it was a previously buried uh IED. And we had that's the second uh operation like that where the Israelis have hit a previously set IED. The previous one was two weeks ago in east of Conunis. Um, so you can see that the um, we know from previous battles that once the Israelis move into what is the battlefield that there will be IEDs, there will be booby trapped houses. Um, and we haven't seen any of those uh, face-to-face operations. There was two reports this week of clashes between uh, the resistance and the Israelis. Um, but nothing uh, nothing that would be like a ground war. And there's many reasons for that. the ones that I just gave you. But also, I think that Casam is adhering to the ceasefire. They're not carrying out a low uh probability operation that will set the ceasefire um negotiations back. And Israel just wants to show their population that they're squeezing Gaza without actually fighting. Um excuse me. If we look at number five, um you can see the map in in Rafa. Again, they're cutting all of Rafa off. Um the Morag corridor is uh along that line. You can see they haven't completed uh the full corridor. Um but uh Army Radio reported just this morning that um the IDF a few weeks ago submitted um a document to the Knesset uh security uh cabinet that says that uh only 25% of Casam's tunnels have been destroyed. So 75% of Kasam's tunnels remain intact in the Gaza Strip. and Casam has more than 20,000 fighters um which is the very close to the number that they had when the war began. Israel's number was 26,000 um fighters before the war began. Um and the Israeli military chief of staff Al Zamir visited Rafa this week and he said to the Israeli soldiers, I expect you to defeat the Rafa Brigade. Um, the Raffa Brigade, as uh, longtime listeners of this show will know, was said to be defeated in June in the summer. Then later in the summer, they said they really defeated them. Um, Halevi, the chief of staff, said that um, the 162nd Division had totally defeated the Rafa Brigade. Um, of course, we know that's not true. That was in September. And then in October, um, we saw the death of Yaha Sinoir in Telles Sultan. And then after that we saw a number of operations that we broke down on this show that were uh operation avenging Sinoir. So the resistance was still functioning fully uh in Rafa. And now we have today from army radio. Uh according to the IDF, this is a quote. According to the IDF, there are two functioning battalions left in Rafa and three left in Kunis. There's only four battalions according to the Israelis in both of those places. So you're saying half of the battalions in Rafa and three out of four in Conunus. They fought in Conunus for eight months. They fought in Rafa for 10 months. Um and now they're saying um that uh they the quote from Halevi on September 12th was um we we have completely disbanded the Rafa brigade. Um so it this just lies the lies. This whole show has been covering uh Israeli lies. But as Nora pointed out, as these lies are being told, what's happening on the ground in that shaded area that you see um on the left of the screen there, that's Rafa. Um and as the government uh media office said, more than 90% of homes have been destroyed in the Rafa government, which is 20,000 buildings with 50,000 housing units to repeat what uh Norah said. So, um, let's take a look at the next one cuz Kasam this week also launched a barrage of rockets. Um, you can see S55s here. These are heavy warhead, uh, medium range rockets. You can see their rocket launcher system there. Um, presumably this is a buried system. You can see the the dirt there. That implies that it's a buried launcher. Um, S55s have a 55 km range. That's the way the rocket naming goes. um and a 50 k a 50 kg warhead. So, it's a significant rocket. On that sign, you can see the date that this was from Sunday. Um you see them launching their Iron Peace Enforcer uh uh rocket launcher in on the [Music] pad. Heat. Heat. Now we're going to hear them from the other side. So those are the S55s. There was a barrage of at least 10 rockets fired. It was one of the larger barges in the last um many months and the Israelis pointed that out. Uh the Israeli military pointed that out although they always say they knocked them down. Sural Kuds also carried out rocket operations hitting uh the Nahal Oz uh Nahal O military base. Um so the rocket attacks are um the response to the uh positioning of the Israeli forces. there's they're not in a position that the resistance can reach them in the buffer zone. Um that may change and I've been saying that every week that that may change any moment. Um as soon as the Israelis push into the builtup areas, the territorial brigades will be there um to defend the territory as they have all throughout this battle. So that's Gaza. Let's uh turn now to Yemen. on the Yemen front um with the Yemeni forces are battling the US um in order to uh that the US is fighting in order to protect Israel's genocide. Um the Amenes have been clear that the blockade of the Red Sea and shipping to Israel uh and by Israel is the response to Israel's uh ceasefire violations that were negotiated and guaranteed by the United States. So the United States is fighting uh against its own uh agreement here. If we look at number eight, we can just take a look at the map to get a sense of where this battle is. The battle is in the Red Sea. In the upper uh portion, you see Israel there. To the left, you see Egypt and in Saudi Arabia in Saudi waters there. Um that's where the USS Truman uh carrier strike group is. And then down uh at the bottom of your screen, you can see Yemen and that tight squeeze, the choke point there is the Babel Mandab. And that is the entrance into the Red Sea which has been all but shut down um to civilian shipping uh by the um by the uh Ansarah Yemeni armed forces blockade. Although uh it was been reported this week that there are still zero attacks on commercial vessels. Um but transits are down 70% through uh the Babo Mandab into the Red Sea which goes up uh into the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean. So ships are taking the long route all the way around um Africa and um US Central Command who's overseeing this battle has described it as a 247 battle. Um and the US Navy attacks um have been attacked by the Omeni forces on some days two and three times in a 24-hour period. Abdel Malik al- Houthi, the leader of Ansar Allah, said this week that America does not intimidate us, nor do we consider it dominant. The US has moved towards aggression against our country um as part of its participation with the Israeli enemy and its aggression against the Palestinian people. Their aggression is escalating. They're using B-to stealth bombers. Um, and some days there's more than 90 air raids. U, the American aggression was was not able is not able to stop the military operations supporting the Palestinian people, nor was it able to provide protection for Israeli navigation in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, or the Arabian Sea. So, total failures. Um, and Abdal Malik al Houthi also warned this week. He warned uh all Arab regimes and countries neighboring Yemen not to get involved with the Americans in supporting the um Israelis um not to cooperate, not to allow their countries to be used as bases for attacks. Um so that seemed like a threat uh to them. It's not clear if he's talking about hosting missile defense systems cuz I reported last week that um multiple Patriot batteries and a THAAD uh battery were being moved um into the area which suggests uh more into Saudi Arabia. The THAAD arrived in Israel at Nevatim air base in the south from the Americans and Nevatim air base is one of the air bases that uh the Yemeni ballistic missiles uh target regularly and Abdel Malikal Houthi said we are in advanced position at the naval level and the aircraft carrier Truman is constantly on the run and its pursuit of it and our pursuit of it is continuing. The aircraft carrier Truman is constantly under attack as it flees further north in the Red Sea. If we look at the next um map, you can get a sense of where their uh their buildup is here. This is a map by Ian Ellis um uh who's an open source tracker tracking naval uh data, satellite imagery, US uh Navy fleet tracking and AIS data. A lot of this is this is all open- source data that um is different than the Israeli battle space where the Israeli military can censor all of this material. The Americans uh can't censor this open- source material. So, we're able to track the ships where they are exactly. And you can see Diego Garcia down there, that's in the uh Indian Ocean. That's what's hosting the B2 bombers. And the B2 bombers are the stealth bombers, heavy bombers that carry um 10 times the ordinance that uh the F-18s that are taking off from the aircraft carriers can carry. They can also carry the heavy bunker busters um which are being used on the Amen's underground missile facilities um that are built into the mountains, although they have very little impact um bombing into the mountains. Um, but you can see there the Truman carrier group is up in the Red Sea and you can see the Carl Vincent uh carrier strike group is coming over from the Indo-Pacific and it should be in um the Indian Ocean in the next uh 2 or 3 days. You're listening to uh this report on April 10th. U so they should be coming uh any day now. they'll arrive and there'll be two carrier strike groups uh fighting the Yemenes uh so that Israel can carry out a genocide. Two aircraft carriers carry about 180 fighter jets. So um significant escalation uh when that second carrier gets there and it was a significant escalation to have six B2 bombers uh move to Diego Garcia. It's roughly 50% of the active B2 fleet for the US. Um and so they're uh obviously committed to this um to this battle for Israel. Um and that map just shows it. If we look at the next map, we can see this is the kind of tracking that we can get. Um this is the Capernacus satellite. Um and the imagery is captured by Tom Bike who does great open- source work tracking these vessels uh around the world. You can see that the map on the bottom left, the inset map, shows that it's about 500 miles away from Yemen. So, they're trying to keep their distance uh from Yemen uh because uh the the closer they are um the more that the more arsenal that the Yemenes can hit them with. We'll show that uh some of that arsenal here. Number 11 is this is the primary one that they're using. This is an anti-ship ballistic missile. This is the ASF. Um and these attacks are generally in waves. They fire these anti-ship ballistic missiles. Then they fire cruise missiles. Anti-hship ballistic missiles go fast, cruise missiles go uh medium speed and then they fire drones. And the drones go slow speed and they are in staggered um which provides um a bit of a a challenge to the air defense systems for the carriers and for the guided missile destroyers that are escorting the carriers. We saw that also with the Iranian attack uh where they came in different waves. Um so the um these are the principal anti-hship ballistic missiles that this is the longer range one that they have. This next one is the tankel. Um it's slightly shorter range. We last saw this in a parade in 2023. So they've surely increased the um range of these weapons in the two years since then. Um but we haven't got a chance to see those weapons in the air yet. So we um we haven't seen the changes. we have to go on um these uh parade images. So um this is one of half a dozen the um Ansurella the Yemeni armed forces have half a dozen anti-hip ballistic missiles, half a dozen anti-hship cruise missiles um and those are constantly being fired on a daily basis. Like I said sometimes more than uh one a day, one barrage a day uh at the US. Um and we can see in this next one. Uh we can hear the story from the uh American side. This is the top naval uh the Navy's top surface warfare officer. So the top uh naval chief um describing the attack and he said in a recent this is from January. So this is from the previous um engagements that uh ended with the ceasefire because Ansarah and the Yemeni armed forces adhered to the ceasefire. Um and would the minute the ceasefire goes back in effect they will adhere to that if the United States also adheres to the ceasefire that they are the guaranurs of um but here you can hear Navy uh top surface office uh warfare officer uh Vice Admiral Brendan Mlan um he says in a recent attack the destroyer USSR Spruent was in a fight where they shot down three anti-hip ballistic missiles three anti-ship cruise missiles and seven one-way aerial attack drones. coming towards them. Um, and in this article they talk about so that that's from the Navy side which roughly matches exactly what the uh Yemeni armed forces uh say in their field reports every day. And here in this article he underlines the costs. The uh missile expenditures uh of the cost for the Navy. The SM2 missiles that they're firing are $2.5 million a piece. The SM6 missiles are about $4 million. The SM3 sea sparrows can range from 10 to 30 million. Um, and so you're talking about spending uh hundreds of millions of if not billions of dollars uh in this battle in the Red Sea. Also of note, Navy Manufacturing, they only manufactured last year 17 SM2 missiles, 12 SM3s, and 125 SM6s. So, they're firing more than a year's worth um of uh munitions construction. And if we look at the next one, you can see the New York Times talked about this today. Uh yesterday, earlier this week, um they talked about uh they got a leak from the Pentagon about the amount uh of money that has spent. It says US strikes in Yemen burning through munitions with limited success. In just 3 weeks, the Pentagon has used $200 million worth of munitions in Operation Ruff Rider against the Houthi militia, officials said. And that was leaked from a Pentagon official who spoke um in a closed session with Congress. Um so they're spending $200 million plus um in this period of time. CNN wrote a report uh based on some other um uh Pentagon officials that said the number was over a billion already. So um and as happening, if we look at the next one, the many armed forces are downing reapers. They got another two this week since you last saw me. This is now four that they've gotten since March 2nd when Israel uh violated the ceasefire by blockading Gaza and the third one since March 15th when the US uh moved into this battle. These MQ9 Reaper drones, they don't have any counter measures. They're big and silver and shiny metal. They have weapons hanging off the wings. They're just they create a massive radar signature. and the Ansarah and the Yemeni armed forces have an indigenouslymade surfaceto-air missile that's destroying them. And honestly, the number of surfaceto-air missiles that they have, the 358 um can take down these Reapers uh every time they're in the airspace. So, um the US doesn't want to get close enough. They need these reapers to find uh intelligence to what they can strike with their uh million-doll multi-million dollar munitions. Um they need the reapers to get those locations because they don't have troops on the ground. And the uh air defenses of the amenes are able to to burn them and leave them in a field like we see uh here in the desert. This was over Jaff Province. Um, and so that's the 18th since the battle in the Red Sea started and the 22nd Reaper drowned down um since 2017 when the 358 uh surfaceto-air missile came into um into use. And one more here too to look at the uh Yemenes are also attacking Israel. Um they've launched multiple uh YAFA drone. This is the Yafa drone that we saw released. This is the promo from July 2024 when we first saw it. And this was the drone that penetrated Israel's air defenses and hit right near the US embassy in Tel Aviv. Almost a dead hit, flew out over the sea and came in across the beach from the west. Um the Israelis weren't expecting that. This week they've launched multiple drones, presumably this Yafa drone, and they said the Israelis said it came from the east. So they're not flying it straight up. They're flying them on routes that are attacking from places that the Israelis that they think the Israelis aren't expecting. And that's one of the benefits of this SMED class drone is that it has 2500 km range. So you can send it out a few hundred kilometers in either direction and still be able to reach Israel. It carries a 50 kg warhead and there you see its rocket assisted launch there. So, this is another development by the Yemeni armed forces components uh and some knowhow from Iran, but as Donald Trump said in the White House with Netanyahu the other day, uh he exclaimed that they make them themselves. That was Trump's uh he couldn't believe it. They they make them themselves. They make the missiles themselves um and underground bases that cannot be bombed. Um and they make the drones in the same place. So, um, the Ameni armed forces said yesterday, the Yemeni armed forces unmanned air force carried out a military operation targeting an Israeli military target in the occupied uh, Tel Aviv region with a YAFA drone. The armed forces as they fight this battle with all bravery, defiance, and faith confirm once again, as they have confirmed over the past years, that the great that the great Yemen is unbreakable and will not retreat from supporting and backing the oppressed Palestinian people and will not surrender to American aggression. It will remain, as it was, and as it will always and forever remain, a graveyard for invaders. So that is the resistance report for this week. We have the Amenes uh carrying out this battle in solidarity with Gaza and uh the increasing uh push towards war in Gaza as well.