Why are we in the area to begin with, inserting ourselves into these volatile conflict zones? We keep doing that and then acting surprised when we get caught in the crossfire =/
They are also protecting commercial civilian ships being targeted. China has warships there too and they didn't bother.
Houthi are going after Israeli stuff anyway and only targeting the US because they completely neuter their capabilities. If the US isn't there missiles will still be flying over the Red Sea and civilian ships being hijacked.
Wouldn't the presence of US naval vessels in the area indicate that it's not a surprise?
Another comment said that shipping lane is used by other nations' vessels too, but the Houthi are specifically targeting Israeli ships (and by extension their American defenders, but only because we choose to be involved).
Ships from all sorts of countries sail the world, but it's not an innocent coincidence that ours are routinely targeted by Israel's enemies...
It's silly for us to play the victim when we put ourselves in harm's way specifically to defend Israel against these threats. It's like sailing through the Taiwan Strait with a carrier group and acting surprised when it annoys China.
We use our force projection to play global police, but then turn around and pretend like we're innocent... we're far from it. These are self-inflicted casualties because we're picking sides.
Sure, I agree with you there—although Israel isn't at war with the Houthi rebels. Again, the Houthi are fighting the Yemeni government and the Saudis. Although "Death to Israel" is part of their charter, so there is that.
> It's silly for us to play the victim when we put ourselves in harm's way specifically to defend Israel against these threats.
I don't know that we're playing the victim here; our ships are clearly there to do exactly what it is that they're doing. Overall it's probably a net win for us—we get practice in anti-drone warfare.
Because of USSR
> inserting ourselves into these volatile conflict zones?
Because America was protecting those nations/regimes who allied with America against USSR
> We keep doing that and then acting surprised when we get caught in the crossfire
Because American former allies started to fight against each other, and not USSR