How many dollars has the U.S. spent to prevent attacks in the Middle East

The country's navy has spent 10 in the past six months preventing "more than 130 attacks" on U.S. warships and commercial vessels in the Middle East. It deployed weapons worth nearly a billion dollars.

U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said this at a Senate Budget Committee hearing yesterday local time. Meanwhile, he urged lawmakers to pass a complementary national security package to address the arms shortage.

Del Toro said, "In six months, we have repelled virtually 130 of his direct attacks on U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels. The weapons needed to thwart attacks are of great importance to the Navy."

Mr. Dell also said, ``We are currently receiving $1 billion worth of weapons, and at some point we will have to rebuild this weapons stockpile.'' More than $200 billion in additional funding is essential for our Navy and Marine Corps to address weapons shortages and continue the defense actions we have taken for six and a half months.

Yemen's Houthi rebel group has been attacking Israeli-linked commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with drones and missiles since last November. They carried out these attacks to protest Israeli attacks on the Palestinian Gaza Strip and demand an end to the war.

Meanwhile, the United States and its ally the United Kingdom are also targeting the Houthi positions. Several countries' navies have also formed a U.S.-led patrol alliance to prevent attacks by the group.