By Servet Gunerigok
WASHINGTON (AA) - The US Navy has spent nearly $1 billion in munitions in responding to attacks on Navy ships and commercial vessels in the past six months in the Middle East, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Tuesday.
Del Toro told a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the munitions are "extremely important" to the navy, which he said countered more than 130 direct attacks in the region.
The US Navy is “approaching $1 billion in munitions that we need to replenish at some point in time," he said.
The navy is seeking more than $2 billion in a supplemental package which faces an uncertain path in Congress because of concerns from lawmakers.
President Joe Biden's $95 billion national security supplemental had languished in the House of Representatives for months after it overwhelmingly cleared the Senate by a 70 - 29 vote in February. It includes more than $60 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, nearly $2.5 billion for US military operations in the Red Sea and $4.8 billion for Indo-Pacific partners.
The Yemeni Houthis have been targeting cargo ships in the Red Sea owned or operated by Israeli companies or transporting goods to and from Israel in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, where more than 33,800 victims have been killed in an Israeli onslaught since October following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.