President Donald Trump's strike on Yemeni Houthi fighter targets has changed the illusion that they are a peer group of the United States Navy, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax, Sunday.
"Taking the Houthis out of the game of shutting down the Suez Canal has finally occurred," Holt told Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "And the president yesterday used a very interesting word, one that we love in the military as those attacks got started, and that's the word decisive."
He added that military planning was achieved, shown by how "the very first things to get hit were radars and aerial defense systems, which in the Air Force, that's our method of warfare. We're going to blind you first, and then we're going to do nasty things to your infrastructure, your logistics, your leadership."
The strikes will lead to Trump's desired outcome, which is to get out of the fight altogether or have their weapons removed from them, Holt continued.
Iran will also pay the price, as it is "losing another proxy as we speak," he said.
The Houthis have vowed to retaliate for the strikes, and Holt said it is known that they have underground munitions.
"If they're really committed to the fight, then they're going to dig those up, and they're going to fire them as quickly as they can without being detected," he said. "It's not going to work."
But there are "multiple benefits" for the strategy Trump is using, as Egypt was losing $30 million a day because of the hindered shipping traffic.
"That's a big center of gravity to have them go through that economic pain, with 18% of the world's shipping getting halted," he said. "That's getting opened up back now. There is no way we're going to let the Houthis get back into business."
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