Wall Street: US Central Command is preparing an extensive list of potential targets for the Houthis, including specific terrorists

US intelligence agencies have warned that Russia may be involved in arming the Houthi rebels in Yemen with anti-ship missiles in response to the Biden administration's support for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with American weapons, according to what the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

According to the report translated by “Yemen Shabab Net,” this concern comes in the wake of a secret message in which the commander of the US Central Command, General Michael “Eric” Kurella, warned US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that the current US military operations in the region “failed” to deter Houthi attacks. On shipping in the Red Sea. According to American officials, he recommended a “broader” approach.

Kurella wrote in his letter that the entire administration must increase its efforts against the Houthis: economically, diplomatically, and militarily.

“Many people found the tone of the memo a bit shocking,” a defense official said. The memo basically said, “American service members will die if we continue this way.”

The White House is working on a diplomatic effort to prevent Moscow from transferring weapons to Yemen by using a third country to persuade President Vladimir Putin not to join Iran in supplying weapons to the Houthis.

According to the newspaper, the combination of intelligence that Moscow may be planning to provide military support to the Houthis and warnings from North Korea raised the question of whether the White House was making enough effort to stop their attacks in the Red Sea and elsewhere, as evidenced by the air strike it carried out. A drone between Thursday and Friday in Tel Aviv.

According to a source in the US administration, US Central Command has already been asked to prepare “an extensive list of potential targets,” including specific terrorists, for potential strikes. However, some US officials said it could have hit the Houthis more significantly — and better protected the ships they attack on an almost daily basis.

According to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, it would have been possible, for example, to hit other targets including larger weapons storage facilities, Houthi leaders — or targets where the likelihood of casualties is higher.

The White House allowed the US military to attack Houthi targets - missiles and drones - before they were launched, and took other "limited steps", including seven planned military operations, according to the report.

Another US security source defended the policy, claiming that the US and its allies had destroyed “a significant amount of Houthi capabilities,” including hundreds of missiles and launchers, hundreds of attack drones, dozens of weapons and equipment storage facilities, and numerous command and control facilities. Air defense systems, radars and helicopters.

However, officials at US Central Command said that their forces could not prevent the Houthis from striking ships in the Red Sea or the Bab al-Mandab Strait, because they had not received approval to launch large-scale attacks.

“If you ask the military to restore freedom of navigation and then ask them to just be defensive, it won't work,” one US official said. “It's all about protecting the ships without affecting the root cause.”

Concerns about the transfer of Russian missiles to the Houthis increased last month when Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow might supply weapons to US enemies because of the White House's policy toward Ukraine.

“The response may be asymmetrical, and we will think about that,” Putin told reporters at an international economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The missiles have not been transferred since then, but American sources reported that Houthi representatives had already been seen in Russia. Meanwhile, according to the report, the missiles may be transported via Iranian smuggling routes.