Pentagon Acknowledges Attempts to 'Deter' Sanaa Unsuccessful

By Al Mayadeen English

Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder says the US would not be surprised if it saw retaliatory strikes from the Yemeni Armed Forces over the aggression on Yemen.

Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder claimed on Wednesday that US-led strikes on Yemen had "degraded" the Yemeni forces' ability to carry out operations in the Red Sea, but acknowledged that the US attempt to deter the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement has not succeeded so far.

"We would not be surprised if we saw efforts on their part to continue to try to conduct retaliatory strikes," Ryder told reporters.

This comes as earlier, the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an attack against the American-owned Genco Picardy as it sailed through the Gulf of Aden, the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced.

Saree said that the attack came "In support of the plight of the Palestinian people and in solidarity with our brethren in the Gaza Strip, and within the framework of responding to the American-British aggression on our country."

Firing several anti-ship missiles, the Yemeni Armed Forces dealt "precise and direct hits" to the Genco Picardy.

The spokesperson reiterated that the YAF will not hesitate to target "all sources of threat in the Arabian and Red Sea, within the legitimate right of defending [Yemen] and supporting the oppressed Palestinian people."

Moreover, Saree warned the United States and the United Kingdom of an inevitable response to their attacks on Yemen, adding that any renewed aggression "will not go without retaliation and punishment."

Following the repeated US-British aggression on Yemen, the Yemeni Supreme Political Council of the Sanaa government declared that now "all American and British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni Armed Forces."

On its part, the Yemeni Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called on maritime shipping companies to pursue their operations in the Red Sea "as long as they are not heading to the Zionist enemy."

The ministry said in a statement that operations targeting ships in the Red Sea are solely "limited to ships owned by the Israeli enemy or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine."