Yemen resumes naval blockade of Israel, downs US drone, with Jon Elmer

so this is the resistance report for day 524 since October 7th it's ceasefire day 54 such as it is as Nora reported off the top it's not much of a ceasefire at this point um it's been structurally violated by Israel in dozens scores of ways more than a thousand times um since it went into effect um and phase one expired and was supposed to roll over to phase two um that was guaranteed um the guarantors of that agreement are the United States Egypt and Qatar and uh Israel has violated that and the most uh pronounced violation besides the murderous um violations that Nora reported on at the beginning of the show uh and we've been covering here for the last uh month uh is that on March 2nd the prime minister's office in Israel announced a total blockade on Goods supplies uh and goods and supplies to Gaza um as the phase one of the deal expired a total blockade uh in violation of the ceasefire that was agreed upon um so in response to these violations by Israel ansar and the yeni Armed Forces uh who have observed the ceasefire since day one announced the resumption of their Naval blockade against Israel their Naval blockade began in November 2023 in solidarity with Gaza they said they would not remove that Naval blockade which is against ships going to port in Israel or Israeli linked ships uh until The Siege on Gaza ended they in good faith uh observed the ceasefire that went into effect uh January 19th um and as Brigadier General Yahya sari said this week this blockade will continue until the crossings to Gaza are reopened and humanitarian Aid including food and medicine is allowed to enter so let's take a look at some of the map we've got some mapping resources and we'll take a little bit of a look back at at the way that this has unfolded since November 20 uh 23 so we're looking at the key corridors of course Israel's up there in the upper left um in the bottom center there you see Yemen and you see uh crucially um the Babel mandab straight um off the Gulf of Aden there into the Red Sea that is one of the choke points um off the yeni coast uh that the yeni armed forces have enforced the blockade through uh the two main ports in Israel are through the Red Sea that you see up uh running from right to left up your map there um you can see it moving in uh at the top of the Red Sea that goes into the port at aat uh in southern Israel and of course if you go to the left there you cross the Suez Canal into the mediter ranean and you reach the port of ashod which is just North of Gaza so that that is the map that we're looking at the main targeting area that aner alah and the yeni armed forces are talking about is the Babel mandab straight there between jibuti uh between Africa and um and Yemen there that you see that choke point a historic choke point of trade and an area of operations that uh is relevant to what we are talking about today that key Transit point if we look at the next map um we can see an events map this is from the armed conflict location and event data tracker a political violence tracker they have logged the events you can see 164 events uh ending um through the week of March 7th um and you can see the dots there in um the Babel mandab straight uh where much of the uh targeting is um they log the 136 attacks it should be said that these are not attacks they're not full frontal attacks on shipping they uh the ships are warned they're diverted there's warning shots um that make up the vast majority of those 136 attacks that are listed those attacks also include attacks on US Naval vessels uh military vessels um patrolling in the area as well there's been at least six uh frontal assaults on uh US aircraft carriers in the area but for as far as shipping is concerned it is a warning uh not to travel uh through the area of course this began in November 2023 people may remember when the Galaxy leader an Israeli owned ship uh was boarded and taken over by the ameni armed forces and its crew um held uh held captive in good conditions we saw lots of videos of them uh in support um in solidarity with what was happening in Gaza and that ship the Galaxy leader the first day of the ceasefire in Gaza the Galaxy leader crew was released there's been a single fatal attack uh in March 2024 uh three Sailors were killed but it uh other than that uh incident this has been um effectively um there there has been no other casualties in this 30 ships have been damaged after they ignored uh multiple warnings and this is all takes place under the uh Naval blockade task force of the yeni Armed Forces uh they call it the yeni Armed Forces humanitarian operations coordination Center um and they research uh and get Intelligence on ships um there because the ships change Flags life flags of convenience um try to disguise their ownership um and their destinations and when those ships that have done that arrive in Port in Israel they're then warned um when they're in Port in Israel that they have been notified of being sanctioned and the yeni Armed Forces stress that um if they persist in this multi-layered um warning system um then they are targeted and they uh stress that they used the methodology of the US Saudi blockade on Yemen uh the brutal Naval blockade on Yemen that matched with the war the Saudi us war that began in May um of 2015 so they're using criteria that was used against them a blockaded country um to use uh against Israel in a humanitarian uh intervention that they say matches International laws requirements on stopping genocide on intervening in a genocide um that's going on if we look at this next map here we can see this is an attack chart um map you can see the number of vessels over the course of the 16 months since uh the war in Gaza began and if you look at the line graph in the upper uh left corner tracking it across the screen you can see that transits through uh the Babel mandab uh straight have gone from uh have gone below half from um 2,000 uh down to below uh a th000 according to the Lloyd's uh list intelligence Lloyds of London list intelligence um they're down from 268 Crossings in November 2023 to 877 one year later um so they've had a material uh impact on shipping in the region to Israel um the attacks have carried out in a number of phases they have been escalated as the war escalated they went from Israeli owned ships to um to ships that were servicing Israeli ports um to British and UK ships once the Brits and the Americans started bombing on Shore in Yemen they expanded um this and of course in the Final Phase um Yemen began targeting Israel with uh drones targeting Israeli soil with drones and ballistic missiles we've of course covered that on the resistance report for uh the last year and a half of course um Yemen has been the subject of more than 700 uh American and Israeli air strikes on their uh territory as well during this time which have killed orders of magnitude more than the three Sailors that have been killed um during this uh Naval blockade if we look at the next uh map you can just see uh or the next graph you can just see it's pretty obvious when the blockade uh the yeni Armed Forces blockade begins um you can see vessels through the Suez Canal drop off um you can see car carriers which are main the main source uh of the port at aat uh on the Red Sea the Israeli Port of aat is a car carrier Port you can see those drop to virtually zero um and you can see in the upper right corner um the change in transits through the Suez Canal of valuable um cargo so you can see the car carriers are down by more than 90% virtually 100% um you can see the crude tankers uh crude oil tankers are down by more than 50% um and you can see the uh LG liquid natural gas carriers down 70% so significant material uh impact of this uh blockade which is also a political action um to press other countries to join in December um at the Port of aat the chief executive told Reuters this is December 2023 right after the beginning of the blockade that um that arrivals had had dropped 85% at the Port of aot by March 2024 um they're talking about zero Vehicles arriving uh at the port and by July 2024 they're talking about bankruptcy at the Port um the port CEO is talking to the knesset's economic Affairs committee saying that there had been no activity at the port for eight months and no revenues at all coming in um so the ceasefire um the ceasefire allowed the resumption to some degree uh of these um but now it is back in effect and it went into effect with a video uh that we're going to show here in a moment where um that the yeni Armed Forces published siege for a Siege uh it's called and you're going to see aner Allah political leader Abdul Malik al-houthi declare uh he's going to say we declare to the world we will give a 4-day deadline uh for the entry of Aid into Gaza this was earlier this week uh end of last week um and it says on screen that it's a 4day deadline um and Abdul Malik Al huti says we will resume our Maritime or Naval operations against the Israeli enemy our message is absolutely clear we will respond to Siege with Siege but it's a solid information operation so we're going to watch that video in its entirety now for for so yeah solid information operations letting everybody know what's happening they showed there in that video two ships have been sunk two ships have been sunk uh during this blockade and Abdul Malik alhi on Monday said that we Grant granted the 4-day deadline the deadline is to allow the mediators to continue their efforts if after those 4 days the Israeli enemy persists in preventing the entry of Aid into Gaza and maintains complete closure of The Crossings and continues to block the entry of food and Medicine into Gaza we will resume our Naval operations in the area of responsibility that we showed you on that map uh earlier um abdal Malik Al huti said uh it is the responsibility of Arab and Islamic governments to ensure the entry of Aid into Gaza and to ensure that they exert maximum pressure to make it happen we remind Arab and Islamic governments of their responsibility to be held accountable knowing that many of them are indifferent to the uring of a of Aid entry into Gaza so a message uh political message a material message a demonstrative pressure on other governments to uh to not allow this blockade of Gaza to continue the expiration of that expiration of that 4-day threat um ended this week um and the naval blockade went into effect at midnight on Wednesday so they gave time to prepare um and if we look at this next slide you can see also that they uh issued uh this warning here uh which you see an hourglass at the top you see a ship with the 4-day warning and then the ship being targeted uh underneath um Yahya sari Brigadier General Yahya Sari of the yeni Armed Forces said in support of this is what he said at the deadline at the end of the four days at midnight on Wednesday he said in support of and in Victory for the oppressed Palestinian people and its dear Fighters and after the expiration of the deadline granted by S Abdul Malik Badin alui to the mediators to pressure the is enemy into reopening The Crossings and allowing Aid into Gaza and due to the mediators not being able to achieve this the yeni Armed Forces confirm the following first the resumption of a ban on the passage of all Israeli ships in the designated area of operations which includes the Red Sea the Arabian Sea Babel mandab and the Gulf of Aden secondly this ban takes effect immediately from the moment of this announcement which was yesterday at midnight um Tuesday Wednesday at midnight um number three any Israeli ship that attempts to break this band will be targeted within the declared area of operations and number four this ban will remain in place until the crossings into the Gaza Strip are reopened and humanitarian Aid including food and medicine is allowed to enter the ameni Armed Forces salute the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and affirm that with God's help they stand alongside the Valiant Palestinian resistance um and Islamic Jihad and Hamas both uh welcomed the announcement um underscoring the unity of fields um Islamic Jihad said the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine praises the statement issued by the ameni armed forces in which they announced the resumption of their operations against the Zionist entity ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea this bold step aims to pressure The Entity and its sponsors to reopen The Crossings and allow humanitarian Aid into the besieged Gaza Strip we welcome this courageous stance which reflects the authenticity and bravery of the umeni people in supporting our brothers in Gaza and backing the cause of the Palestinian people and their resistance it affirms the unity of the position against the occupation and against oppression through this announcement the yeni people have demonstrated their unwavering commitment to supporting the Palestinian people and standing by the resistance in the face of this ongoing uh ongoing Zionist aggression so uh obviously noted by the resistance factions in Gaza that this blockade is uh one way um and the world has been silent on this as we've been reporting on the show uh throughout um and this is the one uh State Yemen that has been speaking up in defense and acting in defense uh of the the blockade on Gaza so that is the blockade uh the yeni armed forces have also been uh busy with their second war which is uh with us and they downed another Reaper drone if we look at uh slide number seven um this is aner allaha versus the United States Air Force mq9 Reaper drone over Huda Yemen um this is at least the 13th drone down uh since October 7th um you can see it there being blown up um and the 16th since 2017 U us Central Command acknowledged that it had lost contact with the reaper over the uh Red Sea um again Brigadier General Yahya sari said our air defenses have successfully shot down a hostile American mq9 aircraft while it was violating you many airspace and carrying out hostile missions over the airspace of alhuda Governor um and of course according to the ameni Armed Forces this is the 15th aircraft uh that our air defenses have successfully downed since the battle began um so that is another $30 million Reaper drone and in the this next slide I made a little mixtape for you guys uh showing the uh 10 other uh parts of the 10 other uh downings of the reaper drones uh that have happened in the last year so we're BAS basically talking about uh essentially one a month we have had confirmation of at least 12 of them and Central Command admits to at least 12 this one that I just showed was the 13th um and these are in uh previous over the last year we I've shown you all these drone strikes um all these dropping of these drones um these are mq9 Reapers $30 million drones they're armed drones they carry two 500lb bombs eight fire missiles and we have seen these drones downed with those uh weapons intact which means that uh the amenis have access to reverse engineer those weapons um and again the the agreed upon cost uh generally the agreed upon cost is 33 million per unit of these drones although the United States Air Force original construction cost was 50 million um and so we have we're watching here on your screen about half a billion dollars in uh us drones being shot out of the sky by um locally made locally assembled at least um uh service to air missiles that the um that the Y many Armed Forces has been using we believe there to be carrying these out with the 358 which is a um a service to- a missile that has cruise missile and loitering uh munition capabilities in it it um and they've been used to as we've seen to devastating effect it's believed that Hezbollah was using those two to take down uh Israeli drones um during the war um in Lebanon although again we're not seeing the actual uh weapon being used so um they have been interdicted by um US Navy vessels again in their blockade of Yemen um and we have seen those parts and we saw um footage of the 358 at a uh Iranian uh weapons show that was uh attended by the Russians um but there's no direct confirmation that that that's the weapon that is being used but as you can see it is very effective tool um and these drones are like I said they're armed they're carrying out surveillance missions for the onshore attacks that are carried out by fighter jets that take off from uh the aircraft carriers uh and if we look at number nine you can see how the Americans respond to this this is Stars and Stripes the US Armed Forces media This Is How They responded to the one this week the first drone I showed you was this week being taken down um and the the headline is US drone lost over the Red Sea on the same day as the houthi claim mq9 Reaper Downing and in that article it's a uh pretty classic way that the US has dealt with this a US military mq9 Reaper drone disappeared over the Red Sea the same day houthi militants in yemon in Yemen claimed to have shot one down claimed they showed us on video um us Central Command lost contact with the drone on Monday said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity um the day given by the official coincides with one uh in an expost by the hu by the houthis uh where they had downed a Reaper in a coastal region of Yemen with a surface to air missile it's unclear whether the houthis were responsible for the loss of the Drone um they were responsible for the loss uh of the Drone um if we look at the next slide I also wanted to point this out um the fight the battle between um the yemeni armed forces and the US aircraft carriers uh also led to this in December which we didn't get a chance to report on but I wanted to bring your attention to it while we're doing this uh coverage of Yemen um the US uh shot down uh its own fighter jet um during an attack by the yenis um on the Truman aircraft carrier that you see there in that photo um they shot down an F-18 Super Hornet uh a $70 million jet with a $2.5 million interceptor missile these Interceptor missiles are used um to shoot down the yeni drones that cost roughly the amount of a family car um the SM tws are 2.5 million but they also fire SM 3s at um at these incoming drones and cruise missiles that are fired at uh the warships and the sm3 is can range from9 to $30 million for the Interceptor for a single interceptor missile um so you see the asymmetric Warfare uh financially uh revealed financially happening between theeni Armed Forces uh and the Americans and there's been uh like I reported earlier there's been six direct confrontations uh with um US aircraft carriers patrolling uh in the area and uh senior Pentagon official told Fox News that so far the Navy has shot down and intercepted all of the missiles and drones fired at their warships but sometimes the interceptors have occurred only seconds before impact there have been numerous close calls and the US Navy in essence has been at war in the Red Sea for the past 2 years facing near constant attacks by houthi Ballistic and cruise missiles and drones and firing expensive sm2 and sm3 missiles uh to counter the the houthi harassment senior military leaders believe that it is only a matter of time before one of these missiles hits a US Naval vessel um and could cause extensive damage to an aircraft carrier um or to the Destroyers that uh are in the aircraft carrier strike group um an aircraft carrier is A4 and a half billion dollar uh piece of Weaponry um and the aircraft carrier strike group has two guided missile destroyers uh two anti-aircraft warships and one or two anti-submarine destroyers and frigs um so these billion dooll outlay to fight against uh the yeni um the yeni Armed Forces uh and again so this shows you that they shot down their own jet um they claim they shot down their own jet um there's an investigation that has not been uh released yet into that the pilots ejected safely from their $70 million jet uh but this was a story that we didn't get to cover and uh I wanted to put this on the radar and just to come full circle number 14 um the mq9 the reaper drones are not simply off the shore of Yemen this is an illustration from a flight tracker from The New York Times showing that these mq9 reapers are also over Gaza The Reaper drone can fly for 24 straight hours um and you can see the path the flight path uh from early in the war um of these mq9 Reapers um they fly at about 26,000 feet over Gaza just doing these loops and of course we know that the US and Israel operate a fusion Center um where Military Intelligence from the US is uh gathered and Logistics is given to uh the Israelis so this whole War all along has been a US Israeli War on Gaza uh but these Reaper drones really showcase that so I just wanted to bring that in Full Circle and that is the update from Yemen on the blockade and that is the resistance report for uh this week day 54 of the ceasefire [Music]