US officials say Houthi bombing campaign hindered by intel gaps

The US military’s attempt to halt Yemen-based attacks on Red Sea shipping is being hindered by insufficient intelligence about Houthi militants’ arsenal and full capabilities, the Financial Times reports citing American officials.

While the Pentagon is confident that weeks of missile strikes have destroyed much weaponry and forced Houthis into tactical adjustments, the extent of the damage is unclear because the US lacked a detailed assessment of the group’s capabilities before launching its bombing campaign, said current and former US officials.

The US in January declared the Houthis a specially designated global terrorist group, and last week Washington and London imposed sanctions on an Iranian military commander and a Houthi militant they said were linked to the Red Sea shipping attacks.

Officials said diplomatic pressure on Iran to rein in the Houthis would be increasingly important, although they acknowledged that Tehran had less control over the rebel group than other regional proxies, such as Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.

Those groups conducted 170 attacks on US forces in the region between October 17 and February 4, but have become less active after the US conducted retaliatory strikes last month.

Current and former officials said the Pentagon saw a drop-off in intelligence on Yemen after the end of a drone campaign against al-Qaeda in the south of the country that was carried out under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Ted Singer, a recently retired senior CIA official, said the Houthis tended to store their weapons in “very inhospitable terrain”. But acquiring on-the-ground intelligence has been more difficult since the US evacuated its embassy in Sana’a in 2015 when the rebel group seized control of the capital.

“Reporting on a country from afar or offshore is inherently challenging, and doubly so for a country that has seen so much churn over the past 10 years,” said Singer.