President Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Carney at the White House on Tuesday (May 6th) and announced to the press that the Houthi militants in Yemen have agreed to cease threatening the security of navigation in the Middle East waters. As a result, the United States will halt its airstrikes against the Houthi militants. However, it remains unclear how long this ceasefire agreement may last, as the Houthi militants may decide to target ships again in the future.
Oman has announced that it has successfully mediated a ceasefire agreement between the United States and the Houthi militants in Yemen. This marks a significant shift in policy for the organization aligned with Iran since the Israel-Hamas conflict began. Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Al-Abu Saidi, stated that the Houthi militants and the United States have agreed to “cease mutual attacks, ensuring the freedom of navigation for international commercial shipping in the Red Sea.”
During the confrontation with the United States, the Houthi militants attempted multiple missile and drone attacks on American warships in the waters near Yemen. Despite launching hundreds of missiles and drones, none of the weapons hit any US warships.
Both China and Taiwan are studying the experiences of the Houthi militants in confronting a superpower. China seeks to understand the operational efficiency and weaknesses of the US aircraft carrier strike groups, while Taiwan aims to learn how to survive in the face of attacks from major powers.
Since October 2023, the Houthi militants have carried out a total of 137 strikes against military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, sinking 2 civilian cargo ships. It is evident that the effectiveness of Houthi weapons is very low, as even slow-moving cargo ships are challenging to hit.
While the accuracy of Houthi drones, anti-ship missiles, and ballistic missiles is not high, they have managed to deplete the more traditional and costly naval assets of the US, such as a significant consumption of air defense missiles, losses of carrier-based fighter jets, and prolonged deployment times of warships.
Currently, the Houthi militants control about one-third of the territory and seventy to eighty percent of the population in Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the strategic port city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea. Their control extends along about two-thirds of the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Since the escalation of conflicts in October 2023, the Houthi militants have indiscriminately attacked military and commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, leading to a significant decrease in ship traffic.
On March 15th this year, the United States began large-scale airstrikes against the Houthi militants, prompting retaliatory attacks on the US aircraft carrier and its accompanying ships by the Houthi militants. The US has announced that in the military operation codenamed “Operation Rough Rider,” they have targeted over 1000 Houthi militant objectives, which has been ongoing for over fifty days.