FILE - Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. Air Force Central, speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sept. 20, 2023. Grynkewich says Houthi rebels in Yemen may be running through their supplies of drone swarms and anti-ship ballistic missiles and the pace of their attacks has slowed a bit. Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who heads U.S.
In response, the U.S. and allies have been forced to increase their military ship presence along the waterway, and on several occasions have launched wider retaliatory strikes on ammunition, weapons and other facilities. U.S. ships and fighter jets have also been routinely bombing Houthi drones and missiles that are in place and preparing to launch.
“The challenge for us is understanding what the denominator was at the beginning. In other words, what did they have on hand to start with? We obviously know how much we have struck and we have assessments of how successful those strikes were.” he said. “ The other complicating factor is Iranian resupply.”
Speaking to reporters, Grynkewich said the Houthis are more independent and more difficult for Iran to control than other Tehran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. Those groups have largely paused their attacks on U.S. forces at based in Iraq and Syria since early February, when the U.S. launched a massive retaliatory assault against the groups and sites connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.