The Middle East braced late on Thursday night local time for airstrikes from the U.S. and U.K. in Yemen in response to repeated terrorist attacks from the Iranian-backed Houthis.
The U.S.-led coalition telegraphed its punches in advance of the strikes after waiting months to respond to the dozen of attacks that have been carried out against merchant ships in international waters in the Red Sea.
“A surprise attack obviously gives us better odds of killing more Houthis, destroying their weapons, and keeping our service members safe. Telegraphing the attack decreases those odds,” said Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at Hudson Institute and the director of its Keystone Defense Initiative. “It is a maddening hallmark of this administration’s approach in responding to aggression. It seems to think by allaying the fears of our enemies, communicating that we won’t hurt them ‘too…
