Yeah, just to be clear. One of the targets hit was a residential high rise building. Local authorities are reporting over 50 people killed.
The target was one, alleged, terrorist and the building, according to the Houthi PC small group message log, was the building of the target’s girlfriend.
So, the US just killed at least 50 civilians in order to kill a single target. Just to give you a rough idea of the kind of ‘collateral damage’ that is acceptable.
Apparently the USA considers this legally acceptable “Proportionality” according to the wording of the Geneva Conventions, and therefore not a war crime. It is a highly bullshit interpretation according to many lawyers, but they have not been dragged to the Hague over it yet and probably never will be for many reasons. For one because nobody ever takes a swing at the USA in the ICC over anything due to political fallout, 2 because most other countriea are guilty of similar crimes and 3 because it is just too gosh darned convenient for the world power nations to be able to bomb apartments to hopefully kill one guy who they’re pretty sure is a terrorist to keep their shipping lanes open for business. I actually wonder if there is any real legal line of Proportionality that could be crossed, one terrorist in a fully-booked children’s hospital: still OK?
https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/proportionality
Personally I think any extrajudicial executions are unacceptable. If the guy is a terrorist then arrest, try and convict him. If that’s “too hard” then the answer is not to send a drone strike at an apartment building, or a wedding, or a hospital.
Removed by mod
Video games have given me the false hope that we can just send an elite team of ghost assassins to erase the target from existence, but apparently that’s way too costly :( All that training on Ghost Recon wasted…
Oh, the IDF style of surgical precision bombing. How apt.
Yet it’s not terrorism
Legally, terrorism is defined as a non-state person or group wielding violence. So our government can carry out any number of atrocity, rack up the corpses by the hundreds, thousands, or even millions; and still it would not be terrorism.
We get this definition of terrorism from the British legal system. Ironically, George Washington (and anyone else who fought in the revolutionary war) were terrorists. You can find British newspapers from the era describing them as such.
Removed by mod
So the people who made the laws defined the so that of they do it it ain’t terrorism, only if others to it.
Curiously, that’s exactly the same as the Nazis did to make sure their actions were legal.
No one is surprised by America indiscriminately bombing and leaving 150 casualties.
Well, no one that has opened a history book is surprised, but tons of people are very very ignorant of the countless atrocities that the US has committed
Are you actually asking?
The Houthi’s are an Iranian controlled terrorist organization that have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November 2023.
The Houthis have sunk two vessels and killed four crew members, forcing a lot of shipping to Europe to be diverted around the South of Africa.
The US and allies have been fighting the Iranian-backed Houthis for over a decade, this is just a recent resurgence following the war in Israel.
You know, I don’t question what you have said; however, this group chat has put many asterisks on this whole situation. I believe one person in that chat has said something to the effect of: “remember the narrative, Biden’s fault and Iran backed.” Makes me less sure about the whole story and motivations.
I mean I’m sure the Trump admin has alternate motives, since they lie about everything, but the US has definitely been bombing the Houthis in Yeman since at least 2016.
Here’s an article from the Guardian dated in late 2016 announcing the US first strike on the rebel group.
If you’re not sure about the story and motiviations, did you spend any time on looking up what actually happens in Yemen?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/22/every-shot-fired-are-yemens-houthis-a-proxy-force-for-iran
And Vance said something to the effect of, he didn’t want to do it because it would benefit Europe more than it would benefit America.
Sure bro.
That justified blowing up the apartment building the target’s girlfriend lived in.
Because it doesn’t just make more Houthis every time.
I never said the attack itself was justified. I only answered the question.
A more targeted strike was possible, and it’s reprehensible that one was not chosen.
The target himself was a legal target even by the most strict interpretation of armed conflict international law.
That may be true, but there is one consistent lesson we can learn from US history.
Don’t. Touch. The. Boats.
That is an amazing event.
Why are you responding to tragedy with a fucking meme
Because it’s a great way to summarise this ridiculous situation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis
Iran did something similar in the late 80’s. Iran began to mine the Persian Gulf, international waters, as part of the Iran-Iraq war threatening oil shipments passing through.
An Iranian mine struck an American warship escorting an oil tanker. Prompting the Americans to bomb the fuck out of the Iranian navy. Don’t want to be bombed? Don’t attack American warships in international shipping lanes.
Especially with this racist and blood thirsty regime that doesn’t give a fuck about silly things like “civilian casualties”.
Yep and it’s much easier and cheaper just to send in a bunch of drones that end up killing a few hundred innocents than to send in special forces that find the target with precision. And that in turn would be a lot easier than to stop actively funding regional genocide and try to calm the situation down diplomatically.
A targeted strike was absolutely possible. So many innocents did not need to die.
It’s to make us forget about the “group chat” (see how familiar and nice it sounds too, group chat). Damage control.
Someone else can probably explain better than me why the “group chat” is not just a group chat but a massive abuse and illegal thing to do.
The Federal Records Act was violated several times due to the disappearing messages feature of Signal they were utilizing for their plans. Jeff Goldberg took screenshots of the messages before they were automatically deleted when all Federal Records are legally required to be preserved for archiving and may not be destroyed except under specific parameters that they obviously did not follow.
https://www.ed.gov/about/ed-overview/required-notices/federal-records-act
Also, by using Signal, which is a secure end to end encrypted messenger, the vulnerability that is built into the desktop sync feature where messages aren’t locally encrypted can result in enemy and adversarial nation states collecting these messages due to them being stored on an infected device which can compromise the mission and risk lives.
They could also have their accounts and subsequently their messages hacked with their information widely publicly available to hackers.
Firendly reminder that this was the real issue with buttery males/but her emails: that Hillary Clinton was using a private email server to circumvent these laws.
And every other US government employee that knowingly emailed to or from that server is also complicit.
Yet another legitimate problem tossed out with the bathwater because it got associated with the maga crowd. Very handy, that.
The Houthis are a tribe. The majority (though not all) represented tribe within the government of Ansarrallah, a government that formed during and won the civil war when Saudi Arabia tried to steal Yemen.
Calling them Houthis is racist and makes as much sense as calling Americans ‘Kennedys’
They have not been attacking shipping. They have been enforcing a naval blockade of a country committing genocide, something that is a legal requirement under international law. When Israel was “abiding” (or abiding as much as Israel ever abides) during the peace treaty, Ansarrallah dropped their blockade. If this is about shipping, the easiest way to stop this would be to stop applying arms to a state engaged in ethnic cleansing.
America has never been at war with Yemen. We got sucked into supplying Intel and support and weapons to Saudi Arabia under Obama because of all three weapons purchases from Saudi Arabia.
Finally, Iran has done very little in support of Ansarallah, in comparison to other countries that are majority Shia.
Calling Ansarrallah Iranian controlled is about as accurate as calling Israel American-Controlled. It’s just another racist way to try to justify the murder of civilians. You know, the unjustifiable except to fascists like the person I’m responding to.
I’m genuinely surprised it took this long for the US to retaliate.
The US and international allies have been frequently attacking Houthi rebels since January 2024.
There were even memes about it.
They have been bombing them since they started. It just didn’t stop the blockade, just like how this one won’t.
Both are really serious problems in their own right, one’s just a little closer to home
Removed by mod
If the Houthi Militia do not want to be attacked they have to stop attacking cargo ships. No one should be defending the Houthi Militia unless you support killing innocent sailors for some fucked up reason.
If the US doesn’t want it’s ships attacked, then it should stop arming Israel. No one should be defending the US government unless you support killing innocent Palestinians for some fucked up reason.
By that logic shouldn’t Israel stop the crimes against humanity it’s currently undertaking in Gaza if it doesn’t want shipping attacked?
No, because Israel’s attacks aren’t really related to the Houthi attacks. The Houthi are claiming solidarity with Palestine but the actions aren’t related.
They had stopped them for a solid period until Saudi airstrikes began again, and Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza got more blatantly underway.
Might be worth giving it a try if we care about human life.
And again The Houthi instigated their civil war and are bringing in outside militaries through their acts of aggression
I assume you think Pakistan and China’s attacks on the Baloch people are valid as well, then?
Since how dare an exploited ethnic minority have some of its members turn to violence against a hostile state.
No they did not. They attacked ships during the ceasefire.
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
No I support military responses to attacks made by militaries. The Houthi Militia are murdering innocent civilians on cargo ships that happen to pass by.
Removed by mod
Blowing up inoccent civilians is cool though? Fuck that!
No, it isn’t which is why it isn’t ok. that the Houthi are doing it.
Removed by mod
Many of these ships have nothing to do with Israel.
Why do you think the Iranian propaganda you are currently maintaining reflects the facts on the ground?
Removed by mod
No I want to protect the innocents on the ships who are getting murdered by The Houthi for no reason. These ships are not connected to the war or any party in that war in many cases.
What you are supporting is terrorists murdering innocent sailors to stop a war they have nothing to do with, why?
Removed by mod
Also, one is going to spawn more of the other and worse over time.
It’s not about the chat specifically, it’s about ignoring any sort of rules the government is supposed to be beholden to, and getting away with it consistently as they push more and more.
Well yeah, if we let the bombs just collect dust, the manufacture’s shares might drop in price. Can’t have that, can we.
Removed by mod
For me at this point it’s just a matter of surprise.
I expect the US to bomb everywhere that isn’t Japan, North America, European Union, or Israel
Hell I’m shocked they aren’t throwing bombs at Australia because Elon Musk sent a vaguely worded email that implied it.
The reason why I SEEM to care more about the phones than the bombs, is because “US bombing innocent people? Sounds like a Tuesday… but damn how did we elect someone so incompetent that I find out about the specifics?”
what a bizarre fucking list. Japan?
Japan and America have a bromance of both going ga-ga over the other’s culture.
For every Avatar The Last Air Bender (American media that pretends to be Japanese), you have a Metal Gear Solid (Japanese media that pretends to be American)
Removed by mod
They leveled a building to hit 1 target
The MAGA movement have no care about what the administration does, especially when it comes to non-americans in a country literally none of them coudl identify on a map. But if you show them “look how poorly this bombing was planned and carried out” then maybe they will listen.
This guy says that like “bombing Yemen” isn’t a de facto tradition for U.S. presidents. I’m pretty sure every president since Clinton has bombed Yemen at some point during their term. It’s old hat. It’s not news. It was Tuesday.
Like, sure, it’s terrible and no one will deny that, but we’ve been doing it for 20+ years. This? This clownfuckery? This was new.
It is so normal nobody even mentioned the innocent lives being lost as colleteral damage at the hearing
Unfortunately it’s always been the case for as long as humans have had war that the civilian casualty ratio is around 50% to 90%.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualty_ratio
Edit: Apparently the 90% figure is a myth. According to the wiki it’s much more likely to be 50% to 60%.
Their flag literally says “Death to America” on it.
Their user name literally says “friend_of_satan” on it
deleted by creator
God is the Greatest
Death to America
Death to Israel
Curse be upon the Jews
Victory to Islam
For anyone who did not click the link.
Houthis are the only international actor acting in open military opposition to the genocide in Gaza. They are doing their best to enforce a shipping blockade pending a cessation of Israeli war crimes. The US obviously wants the genocide to continue, as well as all shipping trade through the area.
The Houthis, is a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely from the Houthi tribe. The group has been a central player in Yemen’s civil war, drawing widespread international condemnation for its human rights abuses, including targeting civilians and using child soldiers. The Houthis are backed by Iran. The Houthis emerged as an opposition movement to Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom they accused of corruption and being backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Bush and Obama did it too. Historically, it’s been a targeted killing thing against Al-Qaeda (or so they have said), with whatever government they have, giving their blessing. If other sites are correct, Trump did it more, but it’s kinda hard to pick nits there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_strikes_in_Yemen
That’s why a lot people are more upset over the lack of operational security than the action itself. They’re not conducting themselves in a way that keeps our country safe, They skirting monitoring and can’t even get that right.
There was no civil war in Yemen when GWB was in office. We attacked Al Qaeda in Yemen after Al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole in 2000. This is unrelated to any current conflict
The Yemeni civil war starts under Obama. The Houthis instigate the civil war.
The bombing is worse, but using signal instead of official communication channels is still really fucking serious. They want to plan and commit war crimes and avoid any responsibility for it by trying to keep it from ever getting under public scrutiny.
Because they couldn’t fight back
opens a post with question in the title that is lamenting that news don’t give any real answers and focus just on “trump bad” story.
all top comments are just “trump bad” and “all bad government” and has to scroll deep down to find an actual answer to the question posted.
leaves understanding much better why news don’t focus on context and give just emotional side stories.
Because it is controlled by the Houthis, Islamist terrorists threatening global trade, overthrowing a quasi-friendly government and REINSTITUTING SLAVERY.
The United States government just sold over 200 people, without trial, into slavery in El Salvador. And the US explicitly allows slavery as part of its own prison system. The US has a large number of legal slaves.
I don’t think people understand just how fucking MASSIVE that bullshit is. Any credibility that the US had in human rights is long gone.
What turn is doing is what the original filibusters did prior to the civil war. Basically considering chattel slavery such an important part of their ‘liberty’ ideal that they wanted to spread it to places where slavery had been abolished. Like the carribbean and Central America.
Yes, and how does that justify anything? I don’t understand this logic at all, the US being bad doesn’t make the Houthi slavers good. Slavery is wrong regardless of who does it.
It doesn’t justify anything. What it does do is point out the absurdity of arguing that the Huthis deserved to be bombed due to slavery. If they deserve to be bombed, so do we.
They overthrew Gaddafi when he was the only thing preventing slavery from returning, and the allies of the West now have open slave markets in Libya.
Non sequitur.
The point: they do not give a fuck about slavery. They are in support of it.
I did not say anything about who care about what. My point what that all these professed leftists siding with slavers is bullshit.
“siding with slavers” is supporting people not getting bombed in this instance.
you people are bloodthirsty maniacs who will use the flimsiest of claims to justify your thirst for human suffering.
“They attacked us” is flimsy?
Houthis did not reinstate slavery. The “legitimate” Yemeni government that the Houthis are rebelling against reinstituted slavery
Incorrect. While the ousted government often overlooked slavery due to corruption, the Houthis have expanded as part of their interpretation of the Quran, one shared by other nutbags like Boko Haram and Daesh.
https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/yemen/
I’m sure the pro-genocide us state department wouldn’t lie
Whereas the pro-genocide Houthis are totally beyond reproach.
Why do you assume that the US gov is more trustworthy than the Houthis? After all the horrible shit the US gov has done what will it take for you to stop believing it when it tells you that it’s the good guy and the people it’s fighting are the bad guys.
First of all, the State Department document is just one of a variety of reports detailing the Houthi reintroduction of slavery.
Second of all, the fact you can’t actually attack the contents of the report and solely argue I shouldn’t believe it because you, personally, hate America undermines your argument.
Third, rape and slavery are not pasttimes in America, as they are in Houthi controlled Yemen.
It’s not because I personally hate America, the US has been helping israel commit a genocide for over a year, apparently that isn’t enough for you to question their statements but it is more than enough for me
The houthis aren’t exactly the best representatives of the movement but still, this issue would be better solved by stopping arms shipments to israel and pushing them to a ceasefire towards a permanent peace. The houthis have shown that they will stop there attacks when the bombs stop dropping on gaza with this last ceasefire.
These strikes don’t do shit besides hardening the antagonism against the west in Yemen. Ask Saudi Arabia, you can’t take out the houthis with bombs. This is just a way for trump to flex his arms and act like a tough guy.
I do not trust murderous terrorist slavers to keep their word. And even if I did, the mere fact that there are attacking our people is more than justification enough to blow them to Hell.
That doesn’t solve the issue, you blow up one terrorist and five civilians then the brothers/fathers of those five civilians become terrorists. The only thing blowing them up does, besides making the leaders and the people of the u.s. feel tough, is enrich the weapons industry.
We bombed Afghanistan for more then a decade and the taliban still control Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia bombed the houthis for years and they now control Yemen, Israel has leveled gaza and hamas is still in control.
YOU CANT BOMB AWAY TERRORISTS.
So you propose we just let ourselves be attacked?
No, I’m proposing that we push our client state Israel to stop bombing gaza so the attacks will stop. That’s the only way to stop them from attacking us, because again, bombing them won’t stop them, it’ll just fuel further conflict.
Also we arent being attacked, no one in u.s. territory has been harmed, ships in a war zone are being attacked. Are you proposing that we blow the hell out of anyone that killed an american in a war zone? Because Israel has killed American citizens in its war on gaza, so has hamas, should we just carpet bomb the whole area to show we mean business?
First of all, that comparison is bullshit and you know it. The Houthis are purposefully attacking American citizens abroad.
Second of all, I disagree that destroying their capabilities to attack would accomplish nothing and I have no sympathy for genocidal, rape happy slaver terrorists, so you aren’t tugging on my heartstrings by talking about carpet bombings.
Thirdly, as I mentioned, they’re genocidal slaver terrorists. So I do not trust them.
Fourth, this is why any politician supported by Lemmy is obviously going to fail. You have no conception of what normal people think is acceptable. For example: the average American does not hear about Americans being attacked abroad by terrorists who commit rape en mass, support genocide and have reintroduced slavery and think, “We should give these people what they want.”
Explain to me how Israel blowing up a food aid convoy is different then the houthis attacking merchant ships.
oh but that was an accident, they didn’t know the truck with there logo that reported there location to the idf was an aid truck. That’s not there stated policy to blow up aid trucks.
Israel has implemented a full blockade of Gaza since the ceasefire ended. So if an American tried to drive an aid truck across the Gaza border, Israel would blow it up. That’s currently just a threat, and they haven’t done that, but the houthis haven’t attacked a ship since the ceasefire, they only threatened to which is what prompted this strike.
Are all Yemeni rape happy slavery terrorists? Because these bombings are pretty indiscriminate, a majority of the people are civilians. This latest strike was on an apartment building, not some secret houthi military base. They killed a couple terrorist leaders that will be easily replaced, while killing substantially more civilians.
the average American does not hear about Americans being attacked abroad by terrorists who commit rape en mass, support genocide and have reintroduced slavery and think “we should give these people what they want”
All of those descriptors except for the slavery one apply to israel and half of Americans give them unequivocal support.
This isn’t just giving them what they want, the large majority of the world wants a ceasefire in gaza, look at the UN votes. If everyone in the world supports reducing pollution you don’t turn that around and say north Korea and the taliban want to reduce pollution, and we can’t let them get anything they want so we should pollute more. That’s the height of reactionary, oppositional politics that destroys any progress and solidarity.
Ah yes, the moderate “kill them all” approach
They attacked us. My heart does not bleed.
Hopefully it does soon.
A tankie resorting to violence in immediate reaction to a political disagreement?
Must be a day ending in “Y.”
What lead them to be on position to be able to do such a thing?
Who helped to stabilise the previous gov & infrastructure (hospitals) … and stopped overnight destabilising the country early pre-covid?
That is a different topic not relevant for the current discission.
its something that would benefit russia so it was either russia or us
I don’t know, but I presume the answer is us.
But that doesn’t mean it is at all reasonable to just let them shoot at our boats and, I reiterate, REINSTITUTE SLAVERY.
our boats
Everyone’s boats
