United States President Joe Biden's administration deployed B-2 stealth bombers to launch multiple airstrikes on Yemen on October 17, underscoring the US' deep involvement in a deadly regional war that is threatening to engulf the entire Middle East.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that the strikes targeted "numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that contained various advanced conventional weapons used to target US and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters throughout the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden."
CENTCOM said its assessment of the damage inflicted by the strikes is ongoing and does not thus far "indicate civilian casualties". The US military has routinely refused to investigate, acknowledge, or apologise for killing civilians in Yemen and elsewhere in the world.
The Houthis have repeatedly attacked vessels in the Red Sea this year in what they say is an effort to stop Israel's decimation of the Gaza Strip. The Biden administration has, in turn, bombed Yemen multiple times this year, strikes that progressive US lawmakers have denounced as dangerous as well as illegal given that the White House did not seek congressional authorisation, as required by the Constitution.
"Why is the US bombing Yemen — with a B-2 bomber no less — with zero congressional authorisation?" asked Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), following Wednesday's strikes. "Are these members of Congress literally asleep or drugged?"
Wednesday's airstrikes reportedly marked the US' first use of the stealth bombers against Yemen, a country that has been devastated by years of relentless attacks by a US-backed, Saudi-led coalition.
The strikes came days after the Pentagon announced the deployment of US troops and an advanced antimissile system to Israel ahead of the Israeli military's expected attack on Iran.
A coalition of progressive lawmakers warned in response to the troop deployment that "military force will not solve the challenge posed by Iran".
"We need meaningful de-escalation and diplomacy — not a wider war," they said. "Addressing the root causes is the only route to achieving long-term security and stability in the region. Nothing in current law authorises the United States to conduct offensive military action against Iran. We risk becoming entangled in another catastrophic war that will inevitably harm innocent civilians and may cost billions of US taxpayer dollars."
[Reprinted from Common Dreams. Edited for style.]