--- title: Downing Israel-Bound Missiles, US Faces Risk of Escalation description: Deterrence is only successful as long as your opponent doesn't call your bluff. canonical: https://time.com/6326185/us-downs-yemen-missiles-attacking-israel-biden-faces-escalation-risk/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-20T02:32:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T12:45:51.677Z article:section: Politics og:title: Downing Israel-Bound Missiles, U.S. Faces Risk of Escalation og:description: deterrence is only successful as long as your opponent doesn't call your bluff. og:url: https://time.com/6326185/us-downs-yemen-missiles-attacking-israel-biden-faces-escalation-risk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7908c53057378508/698a4165b21a9c2572507ad9/biden-israel-gaza-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: biden-israel-gaza-military og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Downing Israel-Bound Missiles, U.S. Faces Risk of Escalation twitter:description: deterrence is only successful as long as your opponent doesn't call your bluff. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7908c53057378508/698a4165b21a9c2572507ad9/biden-israel-gaza-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # As U.S. Downs Israel-Bound Missiles From Yemen, Biden Faces Risk of Escalation > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Oct 20, 2023 2:32 AM UTC  President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023. President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023.Kenny Holston—The New York Times/Redux  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Oct 20, 2023 2:32 AM UTC A U.S. Navy warship in the Red Sea on Thursday blew up three cruise missiles and multiple drones fired by Iran-backed Houthi fighters that were headed north from Yemen potentially to strike targets in Israel, the Pentagon’s top spokesman said Thursday. The rare direct American military engagement to defend Israel is meant to send a signal that the U.S. will act to protect its partners in the region, Defense Department Spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters. The incident could be a sign of things to come. President Biden has ordered more military firepower to the region in an effort to convince enemies of Israel not to open new fronts on the country’s borders in the wake of the bloody attacks by Hamas that started Oct. 7\. But experts warn that deterrence is only successful as long as your opponent doesn't call your bluff—after that, it becomes direct engagement in the fight. It’s the foreign policy version of Chekov’s gun. The nineteenth century Russian playwright famously [wrote](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191843730.001.0001/q-oro-ed5-00002871) that if a gun appears in the first act of a script, in the next act it should be fired. The U.S. Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier group, led by the USS Gerald Ford, is now cruising closer to Israel in the eastern Mediterranean, reducing the response time of its advanced attack jets and the sea-to-land missiles. On Biden’s order, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group sailed out of port in Norfolk, Va. on Oct. 13 heading toward the Mediterranean Sea as well. And the Pentagon announced Thursday that more American fighter aircraft have been moved to bases the U.S. controls in the region. All of that has put Biden and the U.S. on the hook to defend Israel and other allies there if the war between Israel and Hamas sparks a broader conflict. The downing of the missiles and drones from an American warship in the northern Red Sea on Thursday showed just how far the U.S. military’s safety net over Israel can extend, and that Biden’s given the order for it to be used. The missiles were shot down from the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer equipped with batteries of SM-2 sea to air missiles that use radar to home in on airborne targets. The destroyer stopped missiles and drones "heading north along the Red Sea potentially toward targets in Israel," said Pentagon spokesman Ryder. "This action was a demonstration of the integrated air and defense architecture we have built in the Middle East, and we have prepared to utilize whatever necessary to protect our partners and our interests in the region,” Ryder said. The question is just how far is Biden willing to wade into Israel’s war with Hamas, and if Iran-backed Hezbollah decides to attack Israel, if the U.S. would break from its traditional posture of leaving direct attacks against Hezbollah in Israel’s hands. “We have this instinctual reaction in the United States to want to move the carriers to where there’s trouble, because it’s a sovereign piece of America,” says Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. Then, if Hezbollah attacks Israel, “we’re implying pretty strongly that we would get involved which would be a huge departure from previous practices,” O’Hanlon says. “If Hezbollah calls your bluff, you’re going to be seen as backing down if you don’t retaliate.” “I hope we’re not on a slippery slope towards winding up at war with Hezbollah,” O’Hanlon says. “I’m not really convinced that the downside was adequately considered.” President Obama was broadly criticized in 2012 when he said he would consider it a “red line” if Syrian leader Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against his own people to put down a rebellion against his autocratic government. When Assad used chemical weapons, Obama opted for targeted missile strikes in response instead of a broader US military engagement. Biden has said plainly that the U.S. military build up around Israel is intended to make Israel’s enemies think twice before escalating more attacks. “My message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel remains the same as it was a week ago. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” Biden said on Wednesday. In a prime time address from the Oval Office Thursday night, Biden called on Congress--currently frozen by a Republican leadership fight in the House-- to approve funding for helping both Israel and Ukraine defend themselves. Military funding for Israel, he said, is needed intimidate Iran-backed forces and deter them from further escalating attacks against Israel. "We're gonna make sure other hostile actors in the region know that Israel is stronger than ever to prevent this conflict from spreading," Biden said. “The hope of the Administration is that they have a deterrence effect,” said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the editor of the Long War Journal. “But the problem with that is if you deploy them and you make the threat that you’ll weigh in if something happens and then that something happens and you don’t—you really look weak.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6326185/us-downs-yemen-missiles-attacking-israel-biden-faces-escalation-risk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6326185/us-downs-yemen-missiles-attacking-israel-biden-faces-escalation-risk/"},"headline":"As U.S. Downs Israel-Bound Missiles From Yemen, Biden Faces Risk of Escalation","datePublished":"2023-10-20T02:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T12:45:51.677Z","description":"deterrence is only successful as long as your opponent doesn't call your bluff.","url":"https://time.com/6326185/us-downs-yemen-missiles-attacking-israel-biden-faces-escalation-risk/","keywords":["Israel-Hamas War"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7908c53057378508/698a4165b21a9c2572507ad9/biden-israel-gaza-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7908c53057378508/698a4165b21a9c2572507ad9/biden-israel-gaza-military.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"biden-israel-gaza-military","caption":"President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023.","creditText":"Kenny Holston—The New York Times/Redux","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/israel-hamas-war/","name":"Israel-Hamas War"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6326185/us-downs-yemen-missiles-attacking-israel-biden-faces-escalation-risk/","name":"As U.S. Downs Israel-Bound Missiles From Yemen, Biden Faces Risk of Escalation"}}]}] ```