The recent pullback of United States naval forces from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing clash between the U.S.-led coalition and the Iranian-backed Houthi organization in Yemen. Contrary to rumors of a formal agreement or truce, most official sources and military analysts confirm that Washington has not reached a lasting arrangement with the Houthis. Instead, the drawdown signals the considerable difficulties faced by U.S. defense planners in confronting an asymmetric enemy that has continued to target American and Israeli interests with significant impunity.
For months, the U.S. Navy maintained an expeditionary presence, deploying two aircraft carrier strike groups—the USS Eisenhower and USS Gerald R. Ford—alongside numerous destroyers, support ships, drones, fighter jets, and surveillance aircraft. Despite these overwhelming assets and the launch of numerous precision strikes, American forces have not succeeded in stopping Houthi missile and drone attacks on commercial shipping, U.S. military sites, or Israeli territory. Ballistic missiles launched from Yemeni soil have reached Israel on multiple occasions, underscoring the growing strategic reach of the Houthis and their backers in Tehran, primarily the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Military analysts and Israeli defense officials point to several key findings from the U.S. campaign. First, airpower and naval patrols—even at extraordinary operational expense—have proven insufficient to eliminate the Houthi threat or stem the flow of Iranian arms and expertise to the Yemeni front. The high operational cost, including billions of dollars in expenditure, depletion of advanced munitions, and overstretched logistical networks, has forced the Pentagon to reconsider the long-term viability of intensive naval actions. Additionally, every missile, drone, or bomb expended in the Red Sea represents both a resource and a strategic attention diverted from other regions, including the Indo-Pacific and Europe.
The implications for Israel and the wider region are significant. The October 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas, the deadliest antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust, reignited war on Israel’s southern front and has intensified Iranian-led efforts to encircle Israel with terror proxies. The Houthis have become a critical southern component of this axis, firing projectiles at Israeli cities and strategic assets. Israel’s advanced multi-layered missile defense systems, including Iron Dome and Arrow, have intercepted dozens of threats, but the attritional burden grows as salvos continue from Yemen and other theaters. Every successful Houthi launch, even if intercepted, represents both a drain on defensive stocks and a demonstration of persistent threat.
The U.S. withdrawal also sends troubling signals to Washington’s traditional partners in the Middle East. Allies like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan have watched Washington’s shifting posture with concern, recognizing the limitation of American security guarantees in the face of determined, ideologically motivated, and well-resourced terror entities. The Houthis, meanwhile, have leveraged their continued resistance for domestic and regional propaganda, portraying themselves as a vanguard of Iran’s broader ideological battle against Western and Israeli influence.
Israeli security officials, joined by independent defense experts, have consistently warned that the removal of the Houthi threat cannot be achieved solely from the air. Only a broad coalition, willing to undertake the complex and costly challenge of ground operations against an entrenched militia, could conceivably remove the group’s military and political base. So far, there is scant political appetite in Washington or key Arab capitals for such a mission.
The outcome of this U.S. campaign—and the larger multi-front struggle between Israel and the Iranian-directed axis—highlights a transformative era in Middle Eastern security. Defensive technologies and coalition airpower can limit but not eradicate the capabilities of terror organizations operating with state support. The war against Iranian-backed terror proxies such as the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and regional Shiite militias remains fundamentally a contest of endurance, resources, and diplomatic resolve. Israel, acting in self-defense as a sovereign democracy, continues to refine its doctrine and prepare for future escalations, while the West must confront the operational reality: without a willingness to escalate beyond airstrikes, terror organizations backed by regional regimes will remain a persistent threat to international security.
