Gallant and Gantz refused to hold a joint press conference with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu will hold a press conference alone tonight.

🚩 @ResistanceTrench

🇸🇾 🇺🇸 🇮🇷 "The Rocket Attack by Iranian-Backed Forces within the last hour against the U.S. Operation Bases near the City of Deir ez-Zor in Eastern Syria appears to have been much more Significant than initially believed, with at least 11 Rockets having Impacted the Base within the Conoco Gas Fields and at least 15 Striking the Al-Omar Oil Fields causing Damage to both Bases; the Severity of the Damage and possible Injuries is Unknown at this time."

📎 OSINTdefender

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇷 NEW: Reports of U.S. airstrikes against Iranian-backed positions and targets in Deir Ez-Zor countryside, Syria

@Middle_East_Spectator

⚡️🇱🇧 According to Hebrew Media Outlets - Channel 12 to be specific - Israel will have to decide on what to do about Hezbollah and the South of Lebanon in the next 2 weeks, either military force or a political solution will be enforced.

@themediterraneanman

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇱/🇾🇪 U.S. Central Command:

'Today at approximately 8:30 p.m. Sanaa time, the container ship 'Maersk Hangzhou' reported that they were struck by a missile while transiting the Southern Red Sea.

The Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned container ship requested assistance, and the USS Gravely (DDG 107) and USS Laboon (DDG 58) responded to the ship. The vessel is reportedly seaworthy and there are no reported injuries.

While responding, the USS Gravely shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the ships'.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇱/🇾🇪 U.S. Central Command:

— Iranian-backed Houthi small boats attack merchant vessel and U.S. Navy helicopters in Southern Red Sea

'On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats.

The small boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, fired crew served and small arms weapons at the MAERSK HANGZHOU, getting to within 20 meters of the vessel, and attempted to board the vessel.

A contract embarked security team on the MAERSK HANZGHOU returned fire. U.S. helicopters from the USS EISENHOWER (CVN 69) and GRAVELY (DDG 107) responded to the distress call and in the process of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, the small boats fired upon the U.S. helicopters with crew served weapons and small arms.

The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the area. There was no damage to U.S. personnel or equipment.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇾🇪 U.S. Central Command: Helicopter from the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group opened fire on four Houthi speedboats, sinking three of them, while attempting to Hijack the 'Maersk Hangzhou'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇩🇰/🇾🇪 NEW: Shipping company 'Maersk' announces it suspends shipping in the Red Sea after renewed Houthi attacks

The shipping company had just resumed its shipping after the formation of the US-led 'Prosperity Guardian' coalition, but is now tracking back.

The company said they will be avoiding the Red Sea lanes for at least 48 hours following tonight's attack.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇾🇪 NEW: At least 10 Houthis were killed today and two wounded when US forces struck their boats in the southern Red Sea, two sources at Yemen’s Hodeida port say - AFP

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇺🇳/🇵🇸 NEW: Israeli troops fired at a U.N. Convoy carrying humanitarian aid in Gaza last week, spokesman says it was an accident

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇺🇸/🇬🇧/🇾🇪 BREAKING: The United States and the United Kingdom are planning to launch a joint wave of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen – The Times

Under the plans the U.K. would join with the U.S. and possibly another European country to unleash a salvo of missiles against pre-planned targets, either in the sea or in Yemen itself, where the militants are based.

It is understood that 'an unprecedented statement' is due to be released by the U.K. and the U.S. in the coming hours which will warn the Houthis to stop attacking commercial vessels or face the military might of the West.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇬🇧/🇮🇷 NEW: U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron called Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian

Reportedly, they talked about important regional developments. Iran warned Israel and the United Kingdom of any miscalculations.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇾🇪 Yemen's Ansarullah: We confirm the martyrdom of 10 of our soldiers while performing their humanitarian and moral duty in support of Palestine, by preventing Israeli-linked ships from passing through the Red Sea towards occupied Palestine

@Middle_East_Spectator

⚓️ 🇺🇸 🇾🇪 The U.S. Navy is Unprepared for a Prolonged War with Yemen pt1

🔶️ Tiny Yemen has surprised the West with its tenacity and ferocity in attacking ships trying to ferry containers and fuel to Israel.

🔶️ Before explaining the risks, you must understand that the U.S. Navy is configured currently as a “Forward-Based Navy” and is not an “Expeditionary Navy.” Anthony Cowden, writing for the Center for International Maritime Security in September, examined this issue in his article, REBALANCE THE FLEET TOWARD BEING A TRULY EXPEDITIONARY NAVY.

🔶️ Due to the unique geographical position of the U.S., the Navy has the luxury of defending the nation’s interests “over there.” Since World War II, it developed and maintained a navy that was able to project power overseas; to reconstitute its combat power while still at sea or at least far from national shores; and continuously maintain proximity to competitors. This expeditionary character minimized the dependence of the fleet on shore-based and homeland-based infrastructure to sustain operations, allowing the fleet to be more logistically self-sufficient at sea.

🔶️ However, late in the Cold War, the U.S. Navy started to diminish its expeditionary capability, and became more reliant on allied and friendly bases. A key development was subtle but consequential – the vertical launch system (VLS) for the surface fleet’s primary anti-air, anti-submarine, and land-attack weapons. While a very capable system, reloading VLS at sea was problematic and soon abandoned. While an aircraft carrier can be rearmed at sea, surface warships cannot, which constrains the ability of carrier strike groups to sustain forward operations without taking frequent trips back to fixed infrastructure. The Navy is revisiting the issue of reloading VLS at sea, and those efforts should be reinforced.

🔶️ The next step the Navy took away from an expeditionary capability was in the 1990s, when it decommissioned most of the submarine tenders (AS), all of the repair ships (AR), and destroyer tenders (AD), and moved away from Sailor-manned Shore Intermediate Maintenance Centers (SIMA). Not only did this eliminate the ability to conduct intermediate maintenance “over there,” but it destroyed the progression of apprentice-to-journeyman-to-master technician that made the U.S. Navy Sailor one of the premier maintenance resources in the military world. Combat search and rescue, salvage, and battle damage repair are other areas in which the U.S. Navy no longer has sufficient capability for sustaining expeditionary operations.

🔶️ Each U.S. destroyer carries an estimated 90 missiles (perhaps a few more). Their primary mission is to protect the U.S. aircraft carrier they are shielding. What happens when Yemen fires 100 drones/rockets/missiles at a U.S. carrier? The U.S. destroyer, or multiple destroyers will fire their missiles to defeat the threat. Great. Mission accomplished! Only one little problem, as described in the preceding quote — the U.S. Navy got rid of the ship tenders, i.e. those vessels capable of resupplying destroyers with new missiles to replace the expended rounds. In order to reload, that destroyer must sail to the nearest friendly port where the U.S. has stockpiled missiles for resupply.

🔶️ If the destroyer must sail away then the U.S. carrier must follow. It cannot just sit out in the ocean without its defensive screen of ships. The staying power of a U.S. fleet in a combat zone, like Yemen, is a function of how many missiles the Yemenis fire at the U.S. ships.

https://sonar21.com/the-u-s-navy-is-unprepared-for-a-prolonged-war-with-yemen/

⚓️ 🇺🇸 🇾🇪 The U.S. Navy is Unprepared for a Prolonged War with Yemen pt2

🔶️ Each of the Aegis missiles, as I noted in my previous post, cost at least $500,000 dollars. A retired U.S. DOD official told me today that the actual cost is $2 million dollars. If Yemen opts to use drone swarms to saturate the battle space around a carrier, then the United States will firing very expensive missiles to destroy relatively inexpensive drones. This brings up another critical vulnerability — the U.S. only has a limited supply of these air defense missiles and does not have the industrial capability in place and operating to produce new ones rapidly to make up the deficit.

🔶️ Then there is the problem of finding the mobile missile platforms in Yemen. Remember the problems the United States had in Iraq in 1991 trying to find and destroy SCUD missile launch systems? While ISR systems are better today, there is still no guarantee of being able to locate and destroy in a timely manner. The Yemenis have more than 8 years experience dealing with U.S. ISR and U.S. drone attacks. On November 9th the Yemenis shot down a MQ-9 Reaper drone. That baby costs a little more than $30 million dollars.

🔶️ Here is the bottomline. The United States flotilla, along with its allies, can do some damage to Yemen but are unlikely to achieve a decisive victory. Yemen, for its part, can inflict some serious damage to some of the ships — maybe even sink one or two — and by doing so, score a moral victory that will fuel doubts about America’s naval capabilities and staying power. Perhaps this explains why the U.S. has been so slow to respond to the attacks launched by Yemen.

https://sonar21.com/the-u-s-navy-is-unprepared-for-a-prolonged-war-with-yemen/

— A very detailed and interesting analysis. Worth the read.

— 🇮🇱/🇱🇧 NEW: Virtually all Israeli cabinet ministers are urging Netanyahu for decisive action against Hezbollah in Lebanon; the pressure is mounting, but the Prime Minister wants to wait till all options are exhausted

@Middle_East_Spectator