Latest news with #RoughRider
The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Hegseth's Signal messages were classified info from battle commanders
The message was classified as secret information when Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, sent it to Hegseth, a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly, told USA TODAY. The Pentagon stood by its contention that the information Hegseth revealed on the Signal chat, which had inadvertently included a journalist from The Atlantic, wasn't secret. More: Trump adviser Michael Waltz defends Signal use, says he stayed on White House payroll "The Department stands behind its previous statements: no classified information was shared via Signal," Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, said in a statement. "As we've said repeatedly, nobody was texting war plans and the success of the Department's recent operations - from Operation Rough Rider to Operation Midnight Hammer - are proof that our operational security and discipline are top notch." Rough Rider is the name of the operation to bomb Houthi rebels in Yemen who have attacked ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis agreed not to target U.S. ships after heavy bombardment there. Midnight Hammer is the name for the U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear sites.
USA Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Hegseth sent classified info from battlefield commanders on Signal chat
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth divulged classified information in March from battlefield commanders about the U.S. attack on Houthi rebels in a chat on the commercial messaging app Signal, according to a U.S. official. The Washington Post reported on July 23 that the Pentagon Inspector General, which is reviewing the matter, has evidence that the information Hegseth shared detailing the timing of U.S. airstrikes came from a classified email. The message was classified as secret information when Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, sent it to Hegseth, a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly, told USA TODAY. The Pentagon stood by its contention that the information Hegseth revealed on the Signal chat, which had inadvertently included a journalist from The Atlantic, wasn't secret. More: Trump adviser Michael Waltz defends Signal use, says he stayed on White House payroll "The Department stands behind its previous statements: no classified information was shared via Signal," Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, said in a statement. "As we've said repeatedly, nobody was texting war plans and the success of the Department's recent operations – from Operation Rough Rider to Operation Midnight Hammer – are proof that our operational security and discipline are top notch." Rough Rider is the name of the operation to bomb Houthi rebels in Yemen who have attacked ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis agreed not to target U.S. ships after heavy bombardment there. Midnight Hammer is the name for the U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear sites.
Perth Now
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Night at the Museum is being reimagined
Night at the Museum is being reimagined with a new cast and tale. 20th Century Studios are making a new movie based on the comedy series, which sees artefacts come alive in the museum, with 21 Laps Entertainment hiring Stuber scribe Tripper Clancy to write the script. Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce for 21 Laps, with Emily Morris overseeing the flick, Deadline reports. The first three films were led by Ben Stiller, who starred as Larry Daley, a night guard who discovers the museum exhibits come to life after dark. The first film, Night at the Museum, was released in 2006, and grossed $574.5 million. The late Robin Williams played Theodore Roosevelt, the wax sculpture of the 26th President of the United States dressed in his Rough Rider uniform, who befriends and mentors Larry. The stellar cast also included Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Mickey Rooney, Brad Garrett, Dick Van Dyke and Rami Malek. Stiller returned for 2009's Battle of the Smithsonian and 2014's Secret of the Tomb. An animated sequel, Kahmunrah Rises Again, was released in 2022. The film follows Nick Daley, the son of Larry Daley, as he becomes a night guard at the Museum of Natural History. The voice cast included Joshua Bassett, Jamie Demetriou, Gillian Jacobs and Zachary Levi. Stiller, 59, is fond of the franchise and previously admitted the first film "appealed to the kid in me". He told "What happens when the museum closes at night? What would happen if everything came to life? I thought that the answers would be a really cool movie to see."
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - What the end of the Houthi campaign means for US power
After 52 days of combat, President Trump ordered the cessation of U.S. airstrikes on the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization on May 6. A fragile Omani-brokered agreement will notionally see the Houthis stop attacking U.S. military ships, aircraft and drones if the U.S. stops its strikes on the Yemeni group. Thus, Operation Rough Rider — over a thousand U.S. airstrikes launched in seventy waves — comes to an untidy end, at least for now. Rough Rider commenced on March 15, 2025 because the Houthis threatened to attack Israeli shipping in the Red Sea if the Gaza ceasefire broke down. On May 7, hours after Trump suspended U.S. operations, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam repeated exactly the same threat against Israel and 'Israeli ships.' This perfect circle makes one ask: Did the U.S. just conduct a thousand airstrikes, spend about a billion dollars, and lose eight drones and two F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft for nothing? Worse yet, did the U.S. blink in a staring match with a tiny adversary, signaling weakness to great power competitors like China? Or, as 'restrainers' such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) promptly noted, has the U.S. just pragmatically extracted itself from a potential quagmire where it never should have been in the first place? The Trump administration was never united on the issue of Rough Rider, as the leaked Signal conversation underlined. The chief 'restrainer,' Vice President JD Vance, struggled to find direct U.S. trade interests to post-facto justify the U.S. pressure campaign against the Houthis. Being that the Houthis were never going to fold to U.S. military pressure — just as they did not submit to 20 years of non-stop combat against the Yemeni government and Gulf States — it was a matter of time before the U.S. sought a face-saver to back out of the fight. Almost from the outset, Trump and his team repeatedly stressed their willingness to end the operation if the Houthis would return to the status quo ante bellum — the exact same circumstances as before Rough Rider began. Masters at seizing the narrative, the Houthis are already convincingly portraying the U.S.-sought ceasefire as a U.S. defeat. For all the doom and gloom, the operation has done some good. Fifty-two days of U.S. airstrikes delivered long-overdue 'mowing of the grass' of Iran-provided missiles, drones, radars and air defenses in Yemen, plus the military industries and technicians needed to build and maintain them. The reality, however, is that all of this can be rebuilt, possibly within a year, unless Iran is prevented from rearming the Houthis by sea and via smuggling routes in eastern Yemen and Oman. The Houthis have a long track record of using such ceasefires to break the momentum of enemy efforts, recover, and then return to the offensive — overrunning domestic opponents, seeking to seize oil and gas sites in Yemen's east, and demonstrating their ability to threaten international shipping — except, of course, ships from their partners in China and Russia. The Houthis are playing the long game, and so should the U.S. If Israel is to be left to face the Houthis alone, Washington should quietly provide it with all the targeting intelligence needed to keep mowing the grass. U.S. drones should continue to overfly Yemen to 'trust but verify' that the Houthis are not preparing to strike U.S. forces. The U.S. should sustain its closer watch over Iranian efforts to rearm the Houthis. In addition, under the auspices of U.S. Central Command, draw together the Yemeni government, Saudis, Egyptians, Israelis, Emiratis and Omanis to create a Red Sea security group in which the U.S. is merely a convener, observer and enabler. Stress to all these parties that, should the Houthis threaten them, a collective defensive effort will be activated to provide missile and drone defense, much as Israel was protected twice from Iranian attacks in 2024. Most important, the U.S. should work to coordinate these partners to strengthen governance and ports in the non-Houthi parts of Yemen, where the UN-recognized government loosely rules. U.S. and Israeli attacks on ports and airports mean that other parts of Yemen — and land borders to the Gulf States — must now carry the burden of importing food and fuel, and they must do so without being intimidated by the Houthis. At very little cost and with practically no U.S. presence, Yemeni forces can be built into a counterweight to the Houthis on the ground, to contain their threat and incentivize Houthi involvement in the Saudi-driven peace process in Yemen. What does not kill the Houthis makes them stronger, and they will get much stronger if the U.S. now washes its hands of Yemen. In a brutal reckoning, the Trump administration was smart to extract itself from endless bombing of the Houthis. They can now be smarter than prior U.S. administrations by recognizing that there are median options between all-in and all-out. That means convening under one umbrella the forces that want to end the Yemen war and contain the Houthis, all while keeping the Suez Canal open and creating the stability needed to supercharge U.S.-Gulf economic partnership. Michael Knights is the Jill and Jay Bernstein Fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He visited all the frontlines in Yemen during multiple trips in 2017 and 2018 and is the author of two books and numerous reports on the Yemen war. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
What the end of the Houthi campaign means for US power
After 52 days of combat, President Trump ordered the cessation of U.S. airstrikes on the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization on May 6. A fragile Omani-brokered agreement will notionally see the Houthis stop attacking U.S. military ships, aircraft and drones if the U.S. stops its strikes on the Yemeni group. Thus, Operation Rough Rider — over a thousand U.S. airstrikes launched in seventy waves — comes to an untidy end, at least for now. Rough Rider commenced on March 15, 2025 because the Houthis threatened to attack Israeli shipping in the Red Sea if the Gaza ceasefire broke down. On May 7, hours after Trump suspended U.S. operations, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam repeated exactly the same threat against Israel and 'Israeli ships.' This perfect circle makes one ask: Did the U.S. just conduct a thousand airstrikes, spend about a billion dollars, and lose eight drones and two F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft for nothing? Worse yet, did the U.S. blink in a staring match with a tiny adversary, signaling weakness to great power competitors like China? Or, as 'restrainers' such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) promptly noted, has the U.S. just pragmatically extracted itself from a potential quagmire where it never should have been in the first place? The Trump administration was never united on the issue of Rough Rider, as the leaked Signal conversation underlined. The chief 'restrainer,' Vice President JD Vance, struggled to find direct U.S. trade interests to post-facto justify the U.S. pressure campaign against the Houthis. Being that the Houthis were never going to fold to U.S. military pressure — just as they did not submit to 20 years of non-stop combat against the Yemeni government and Gulf States — it was a matter of time before the U.S. sought a face-saver to back out of the fight. Almost from the outset, Trump and his team repeatedly stressed their willingness to end the operation if the Houthis would return to the status quo ante bellum — the exact same circumstances as before Rough Rider began. Masters at seizing the narrative, the Houthis are already convincingly portraying the U.S.-sought ceasefire as a U.S. defeat. For all the doom and gloom, the operation has done some good. Fifty-two days of U.S. airstrikes delivered long-overdue 'mowing of the grass' of Iran-provided missiles, drones, radars and air defenses in Yemen, plus the military industries and technicians needed to build and maintain them. The reality, however, is that all of this can be rebuilt, possibly within a year, unless Iran is prevented from rearming the Houthis by sea and via smuggling routes in eastern Yemen and Oman. The Houthis have a long track record of using such ceasefires to break the momentum of enemy efforts, recover, and then return to the offensive — overrunning domestic opponents, seeking to seize oil and gas sites in Yemen's east, and demonstrating their ability to threaten international shipping — except, of course, ships from their partners in China and Russia. The Houthis are playing the long game, and so should the U.S. If Israel is to be left to face the Houthis alone, Washington should quietly provide it with all the targeting intelligence needed to keep mowing the grass. U.S. drones should continue to overfly Yemen to 'trust but verify' that the Houthis are not preparing to strike U.S. forces. The U.S. should sustain its closer watch over Iranian efforts to rearm the Houthis. In addition, under the auspices of U.S. Central Command, draw together the Yemeni government, Saudis, Egyptians, Israelis, Emiratis and Omanis to create a Red Sea security group in which the U.S. is merely a convener, observer and enabler. Stress to all these parties that, should the Houthis threaten them, a collective defensive effort will be activated to provide missile and drone defense, much as Israel was protected twice from Iranian attacks in 2024. Most important, the U.S. should work to coordinate these partners to strengthen governance and ports in the non-Houthi parts of Yemen, where the UN-recognized government loosely rules. U.S. and Israeli attacks on ports and airports mean that other parts of Yemen — and land borders to the Gulf States — must now carry the burden of importing food and fuel, and they must do so without being intimidated by the Houthis. At very little cost and with practically no U.S. presence, Yemeni forces can be built into a counterweight to the Houthis on the ground, to contain their threat and incentivize Houthi involvement in the Saudi-driven peace process in Yemen. What does not kill the Houthis makes them stronger, and they will get much stronger if the U.S. now washes its hands of Yemen. In a brutal reckoning, the Trump administration was smart to extract itself from endless bombing of the Houthis. They can now be smarter than prior U.S. administrations by recognizing that there are median options between all-in and all-out. That means convening under one umbrella the forces that want to end the Yemen war and contain the Houthis, all while keeping the Suez Canal open and creating the stability needed to supercharge U.S.-Gulf economic partnership. Michael Knights is the Jill and Jay Bernstein Fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He visited all the frontlines in Yemen during multiple trips in 2017 and 2018 and is the author of two books and numerous reports on the Yemen war.
