By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Commander of the US Fifth Fleet, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, described in an interview the difficult task for the US military of stopping missiles fired by Ansarallah Houthi armed forces targeting Israeli or American vessels in the Red Sea. 

According to Cooper, it takes less than 75 seconds for an Ansarallah missile from the moment it is fired to the moment it reaches its target. 

This leaves the US military, stationed in the Red Sea and the Bab Al-Mandab strait, about 9 to 15 seconds only to make a decision on shooting down a missile or a drone. 

“There is about 75 seconds between when that missile launches and when it’s going to hit something.” Therefore, the destroyer captain has “about 9 to 15 seconds to make a decision whether to shoot it down,” Cooper said in an interview with CBS on Monday.

According to the US military commander, “No one has ever used an anti-ship ballistic missile. And certainly, (ININTELLIGIBLE) commercial shipping much less against Navy ships.”

The U.S. Fifth Fleet and Naval Forces Command Center safeguard American interests in Middle East waters, including the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Houthi terrorists continue to target commercial vessels and U.S. Navy warships. @NorahODonnell was granted rare access to the site in… pic.twitter.com/zGR1qevL0I

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 30, 2024

Cooper, like other US military and political officials, accused Iran of providing Ansarallah with the needed intelligence to target Israeli and US ships, but without providing any evidence to support his claim. 

Iran is part of what is known in the Middle East as the ‘Axis of Resistance’, a group of states and non-state political actors who oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the US military presence throughout the region. 

Aside from Tehran and Damascus, they include the Lebanese group Hezbollah, various Palestinian Resistance forces, Ansarallah in Yemen, and Iraqi Resistance.

Since the start of the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, Ansarallah has vowed to block access to any Israeli or other vessels that are bound for Israeli sea ports, until Israel ends its war on the Palestinians. Over 100,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are civilians, were killed and wounded in 116 days of relentless Israeli war. 

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Instead of pressuring Israel to stop the war, however, the US formed a military coalition known as Prosperity Guardian and, starting on January 12, began bombing Ansarallah targets in Yemen.

US and British attacks on Yemen, however, only exacerbated the situation, forcing Ansarallah to expand the list of its targets. Since then, the situation in the Red Sea has deteriorated even further.

Cooper’s Fifth Fleet is based in the territorial waters opposite Bahrain, the only Arab country to join the US coalition against Yemen. 

Other Axis of Resistance members are also actively involved in the ongoing support network of Gaza. While Hezbollah has been fighting Israeli forces in south Lebanon and northern Israel, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has been striking multiple targets in various regions, including Iraq, Syria, Israel itself and, as of late, Jordan.

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Though the Iraqi Resistance has claimed responsibility for numerous operations targeting US and Israeli interests, on January 29, they claimed responsibility for a strike at the Tower 22 US military base in Jordan.

Three US soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded in the attack, considered a by Washington as a major escalation by Washington.

(The Palestine Chronicle)