President Donald Trump's administration is barreling head-first into another war — and a defense expert warned it was going to be a propaganda nightmare.
The conflict Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemeni defense analyst, referred to is the bombing campaign launched against the Houthis in Yemen, an operation that got a lot of attention for being at the center of the Signal scandal circling Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
But al-Basha told Vox Senior Correspondent Joshua Keating that the attacks are nothing new to the terrorist group, and they're unlikely to be effective.
He added that the strikes are “not going to be able to defeat the Houthis" because for eight years, the terrorist group has survived airstrikes from the Saudi military force, supplied by the United States.
“If [the Houthis are] not curtailed or defeated or weakened by this, they’re going to be able to say, ‘We defeated Trump, the strongest military in the world. We’re unstoppable,’” he warned.
The Houthis are sustaining damage in the strikes. However, the group’s resources are scattered and hidden, which makes them a difficult target.
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This week, the White House released a report to Congress on the operation, stating that the strikes would continue until the “Houthi threat to United States forces and navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea and adjacent waters has abated.”
This “open-ended” conflict "risks turning into exactly the sort of draining, distracting quagmire that Trump had pledged to avoid,” the correspondent wrote.
However, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that officials are considering winding the strikes down. That’s a scenario that worries Basha.
According to the outlet, U.S. officials say the goal is not to wipe out the Houthis, but for them to stop their attacks on shipping through the area.