Iran backed Houthi rebels in Yemen shoot down US MQ-9 Reaper drone.

 

File photo of an MQ-9 Reaper. BBC/EPA.

Iran backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down an US MQ-9 Reaper drone. BBC. The Houthis were involved in a brutal civil war in Yemen and have attacked Saudi Arabia, but have now changed their focus to attacking Israel. Last month a US destroyer intercepted a drone and missile strike from Yemen. The incident shows that US troops in the region are at risk from Houthi rebels, which has been confirmed by the shoot down. The attack on the drone has increased tensions and fears that the Israel-Gaza conflict could become a regional war. 

The Houthi Terrorist Organization in Yemen has released Footage showing their Shoot Down of a U.S. Air Force MQ-9A “Reaper” Surveillance Drone earlier today over the Red Sea using what is now believed to have been a 2K12 “Kub” Surface-to-Air Missile System. pic.twitter.com/NcNKEi1Etn

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 8, 2023

My Comment:

This is a fairly disturbing development as it is pretty obviously an act of war against US forces in the region. Though nobody was killed in this incident it might draw a response from the United States that could involve an attack on the Houthi rebels. 

Indeed, a similar shootdown in 2019 almost lead to a war with Iran. President Donald Trump canceled the attack at the last minute, since he didn't want to start a war and also didn't want to kill people over a drone, but I don't think we will get lucky again this time. Biden isn't half the president Trump was and he desperately needs a war to get bad economic news out of the headlines. There is a real chance that he could launch an attack. 

The problem is that the Houthi rebels are actually a very tough opponent. The Houthis have been supplied with weapons from Iran for years. They have advanced missiles, drones and even ballistic missiles that have the range to strike Israel and have been used to attack them. They apparently have air defenses as well. 

Both our ships and planes are at risk from strikes from Houthi rebels. The good news is that our forces have proven they can defend themselves against attacks by Houthis, like the USS Carney did last month. We would have a good chance at defending our ships if they were attacked, but it would only take one missile getting through do damage or even destroy a ship. 

Our planes are vulnerable as well. If they can destroy one of our drones they could kill some of our manned planes as well. Supposedly the stealth technology of our F-22's and F-35's would protect them but what about our older planes? And if one of our planes does get shot down and the pilot gets captured? Then I don't expect we would be able to get that pilot back... 

Biden wants to distract from his failures as a President but a war with the Houthis might compound them. If we lose planes, or God forbid, a ship, it will backfire on Biden dramatically. And I don't think people are ready for a war over Yemen, of all places. Most people don't even know where Yemen is, let alone who the Houthis are. 

I do think this means that the war between Israel and Gaza will draw in more players. If we attack Yemen, I think Iran would be forced to respond. They could step up their attacks in Syria against our forces there, though given they have been attacking them almost every day now I don't know how much more they could do. More concerningly they could order Hezbollah into the war, which would dramatically increase the danger of the war.

But I think the even bigger threat is that Biden could attack Iran directly. That would be incredibly dangerous and could even lead to World War III. I don't think that would happen, but a new war with Iran would be incredibly dangerous and would probably cause an economic collapse for the world. And Joe Biden is the absolute last person to be dealing with it. 

Still, it's also possible that this all blows over. The US Media is mostly ignoring the story and I don't think it's even trending on X. And, like I said, the last major shootdown of a US drone didn't actually result in a war, even if tensions got higher for a bit. Time will tell what happens and though I don't have much hope of cooler heads prevailing. I think we will see some violence here...