(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The White House on Tuesday published a letter President Trump sent to Congress on March 25 that said he was ordering a buildup of US military forces in the Middle East to protect Israel and US assets in the region.
In the letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, Trump said he was writing it to inform them of the situation in Yemen and the broader Middle East region.
“First, I directed the Department of Defense to move additional forces equipped for combat into the Middle East to enhance the defensive capabilities available to United States forces and facilitate necessary military actions,” the president wrote.
He said the military buildup included “capabilities for air and missile defense of Israel and of locations hosting United States forces, as well as fighter, support, and reconnaissance aircraft to enable strikes on Houthi targets.”
Earlier this month, Israeli media reported that the US had sent a second Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel along with Patriot air defense batteries. The US has also sent an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia, and other air assets to the region.
Trump also said in the letter that, at his direction, US Central Command had “commenced large-scale strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen to eliminate the capabilities the Houthis use for attacks on United States forces and commercial ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters.”
The US launched the bombing campaign in Yemen on March 15, and over a month later, the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, remain undeterred and continue to launch attacks.
While US officials have framed the airstrikes as a response to attacks on US ships, the Houthis ceased all operations in the region once a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza on January 19. The US restarted its bombing campaign in Yemen in response to the Houthis announcing they would re-impose a blockade on Israeli shipping due to Israel’s total blockade on Gaza, a violation of the ceasefire deal, but before they actually launched any attacks.
A senior member of Ansar Allah’s political bureau has said the Houthis would stop attacks on US warships if the US stopped bombing Yemen. US officials, including President Trump himself, have claimed they would stop the airstrikes if the Houthis declared they would stop targeting US ships, but there’s no sign the US is considering the offer since it’s really bombing Yemen for Israel.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
