U.S. Navy offers cash for tips to seize Mideast drugs and weapons
The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet is starting to offer
rewards for information that could help sailors intercept weapons, drugs and
other illicit shipments across the region amid tensions over Iran's nuclear
program and Tehran's arming of Yemen's Houthi rebels.
While avoiding directly mentioning Iran, the 5th Fleet's
decision to offer cash and other goods for actionable intelligence in the
Persian Gulf and other strategic waterways may increase pressure on the flow of
weapons to the Houthis as a shaky cease-fire still holds in Yemen.
Already, the Houthis have threatened a new allied task force
organized by the 5th Fleet in the Red Sea, though there's been no attack by the
Iranian-backed forces on the Navy in the time since.
Meanwhile, the 5th Fleet says it and its partners seized
$500 million in drugs alone in 2021 - more than the four prior years combined.
The 5th Fleet also intercepted 9,000 weapons in the same period, three times
the number seized in 2020.
"Any destabilizing activity has our attention,"
said Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesman. "Definitely we have
seen in the last year skyrocketing success in seizing both illegal narcotics
and illicit weapons. This represents another step in our effort to enhance
regional maritime security."
The 5th Fleet's new initiative launches on Tuesday through
the Department of Defense Rewards Program, which saw troops offer cash and
goods for tips on the battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere after
al-Qaida launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Since ground fighting has
largely halted across the region, the 5th Fleet decided to try to use the
program as it patrols the waterways of the Middle East.
Hawkins said operators fluent in Arabic, English and Farsi
would man a hotline, while the Navy also would take tips additionally online,
in Dari and Pashto. Payouts can be as high as $100,000 or the equivalent in
vehicles, boats or food for tips that also include information on planned
attacks targeting Americans, Hawkins said.
It's unclear if the 5th Fleet's uptick in seizures
represents a return to shipping after the coronavirus pandemic or an increase
overall in the number of illicit shipments in the region. Traffickers typically
use stateless dhows, traditional wooden sailing craft common in the Mideast, to
transport drugs and weapons.
One destination for weapons appears to be Yemen. The Houthis
seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally
recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S.
weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen's exiled
government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting has pushed the Arab
world's poorest nation to the brink of famine. A truce that began around the
holy Muslim month of Ramadan appears for now to still be holding.
Despite a United Nations Security Council arms embargo on
Yemen, Iran long has been transferring rifles, rocket-propelled grenades,
missiles and other weaponry to the Houthis. Though Iran denies arming the
Houthis, independent experts, Western nations and U.N. experts have traced
components back to Iran.
Asked about whether new seizures could increase tensions
with Iran, Hawkins listed the weapons and drugs the Navy hoped to intercept
under the program.
"That's what we're after," the commander said.
"That's not in the interest of regional stability and security."
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a
request for comment. The U.S. Navy and Iran continue to have tense encounters
in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a
fifth of all oil traded passes.
The rewards program marks the latest initiative under 5th
Fleet Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who also launched a drone task force last year
amid tensions with Iran.
Cooper's other effort, the Red Sea task force, has drawn
criticism from the Houthis in the past. The rebel group, which has repeatedly
denied being armed by Iran, did not respond to a request for comment on the new
Navy program.
However, Ali al-Qahom, a Houthi official, tweeted last week
that the rebels are monitoring increased U.S. activity in the Red Sea and
Persian Gulf waters.
"Because of this, defense and confrontation options are
open," he said. "They and their diabolical projects have no
place" in the region.
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