News - Yemen: The US-based Politico newspaper quoted sources within the Trump administration stating that everyone has tried to confront the Yemenis militarily for a decade, but they all failed.

In its Friday edition, the Washington-based outlet published a report marking a notable shift in American discourse on Yemen and yet another acknowledgment of military and political failure.

The paper noted that the Yemenis are not merely demonstrating their ability to confront the United States for show, but are genuinely determined to stop the aggression on Gaza—something that “grants them enormous credibility.”

This official American stance—expressed with unusual candor and frustration—carries deep strategic implications. It goes beyond admitting military failure. The phrase, “a decade of trying, and they all failed,” strips Washington and its allies of any illusions about “tactical successes” and bluntly admits that the military option has not and will not achieve its objectives.

Another statement, supported by analyses from American think tanks, amounts to an official admission of helplessness in the face of Yemen’s missile and drone capabilities, extending also to the ground effectiveness of Yemeni Armed Forces.

As a result, the US is shifting its focus toward addressing the “root causes,” with the report citing: “The administration will better allocate its resources by focusing on addressing the root causes of Yemen’s operations. That includes securing a final ceasefire in Gaza.”

This shift—from treating the symptoms to addressing the underlying cause, i.e., the aggression on Gaza—indicates that Yemeni operations have achieved one of their major strategic goals: linking the cessation of attacks on Israel to an end of the aggression on Gaza.

Describing the impact of Yemen’s operations and the US military’s acknowledged struggles, a source close to Trump told Politico that the administration made the worst possible choice [after the failure]: stopping the drain of massive military resources on a battle with no end in sight.

Washington sees no path to military victory over Yemen—only continuous resource exhaustion. This has positioned Yemen as a peer adversary, one capable of forcing a global superpower to retreat through long-range, high-cost operations.

This American acknowledgment reflects the strategic credibility Yemen now holds as a regional power able to shift the balance of power in the Red Sea, the Gulf, and the Eastern Mediterranean—an achievement unmatched by any other Arab state in the long-standing struggle against occupation.

Therefore, the political and humanitarian implications of what was published in Politico constitute a significant boost to the legitimacy of Yemen’s position—especially by linking its operations against Israel to the war on Gaza. This redefines Yemen as an influential political actor within an international framework governed by UN laws.

It also highlights an internal American reckoning within the Trump administration, which—under mounting political and security pressure—is reassessing the viability of military engagement in the Red Sea in light of the rise of a “force that submits to no one,” potentially opening the door to fundamental shifts in US policy toward the region.

Observers believe these powerful remarks cannot pass without being translated into real political capital for Sana’a and the narrative of Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi. They solidify the perception of Yemen’s operations as strategically and psychologically effective.

They also deliver a major embarrassment to “the region’s strongest power”—the Israeli entity and its allies—particularly as it finds itself under attack from Yemen and hiding in shelters that cannot protect it from drones and missiles.

Politico’s revelations not only expose the failure of the US, Israel, and their allies in containing Yemen militarily but also underscore Yemen’s rising regional legitimacy as an independent deterrent force. It has imposed a new equation: “As long as your aggression and siege on Gaza continue, our operations will persist—and not even the most powerful militaries on earth can stop us.”