Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., will allow more than 400 senior military officers' promotions to be quickly confirmed by the Senate after an 11-month standoff that resulted in no change to the Pentagon abortion policy he was protesting.

Tuberville announced Tuesday afternoon he was dropping his procedural hold on military confirmations on all but those nominated to be four-star generals and admirals. While that still leaves at least 11 officers in limbo, the vast majority of the officers whose promotions had stalled because of Tuberville will now be able to move forward.

"We didn't get the win that we wanted," Tuberville acknowledged as he announced he was largely backing down. "We've still got a bad policy. We tried to stand up for the taxpayers of this country."

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After Tuberville's announcement, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would move to confirm the released officers "as soon as possible," possibly as soon as later Tuesday.

“I hope no one does this again,” Schumer said. “And I hope they learn the lesson Sen. Tuberville did, and that is: He held out for many, many months, hurt our national security, caused discombobulation to so many military families who have been so dedicated to our country, and didn't get anything that he wanted.”

In late February, Tuberville announced he was placing what's known as a hold on all general and flag officers nominees in an effort to pressure the Pentagon to reverse its policy of covering travel and leave for service members who seek abortions.

While a hold cannot prevent the Senate from confirming nominees, it requires the chamber to take individual roll-call votes on each nominee rather than quickly confirming them in batches in a voice vote as it typically does for noncontroversial military promotions -- effectively grinding the military promotions process to a halt.

Tuberville's hold gradually ballooned to cover more than 450 officers. For months, he refused to relent despite arguments from Democrats, some Republicans, Pentagon officials and military families that he was harming national security and punishing military families for a policy they had no control over.

But as it became increasingly clear that enough of his Republican Senate colleagues would allow a Democratic effort to circumvent him to succeed, Tuberville reversed course.

His new stance will allow one-, two- and three-star generals and admirals to be promoted under the fast-track Senate procedures typically used for military nominees.

He said he is keeping the hold on four-stars because they "need to be vetted just like everybody else."

The Pentagon welcomed Tuberville's decision, but continued to encourage him to allow quick confirmation of the four-star nominees as well. Among those whose promotions are still delayed are the nominees to be vice chiefs of the Army^[2], Navy^[3], Air Force^[4] and Space Force^[5], and the commanders of Northern Command, Cyber Command, Space Command, Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command.

“Clearly vital and critical organizations, all of which require experienced senior leaders in those positions,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters in a public briefing Tuesday.

Military families also expressed relief that their ordeal of waiting for spouses’ promotions would soon be over.

“The heroes of today's news are the thousands of everyday military family members who stood up and said, ‘Enough!’ when a single senator decided to bully our community,” Sarah Streyder, executive director of the Secure Families Initiative, which petitioned the Senate^[6] to end the holds, said in a statement. “We greet today’s announcement with relief and tremendous pride in our SFI members for making a difference.”

Before the end of the month, Democrats were planning to sidestep Tuberville’s hold by essentially temporarily changing Senate rules to allow most of the nominees to be confirmed in a single vote. The rules change wouldn’t have applied to members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and combatant commanders, putting the Senate in a similar place as it is now that Tuberville has backed down.

Also adding urgency to ending the standoff was the calendar. Military nominees who aren’t confirmed by the end of the year would have to be renominated, said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who confronted Tuberville about the holds on the Senate floor and had not ruled out supporting the Democratic rules change.

“They go back to the Armed Services Committee to start the process over again,” Sullivan told reporters just before Tuberville’s announcement. “My prediction, if that happens, you will have dozens, if not hundreds of the best military officers not just in America, but in the world say, ‘You know what? I'm out of here.’”

-- Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

Related: Democratic Plan to End Senate Blockade of Military Promotions Takes Critical Step Forward^[7]

More than 400 senior military officers were promoted Tuesday following months of delay after Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., ended his blockade on military confirmations without winning any change to the Pentagon abortion policy he was protesting.

Tuberville announced Tuesday afternoon he was dropping his procedural hold on military confirmations on all but those nominated to be four-star generals and admirals. Hours later, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., went on the Senate floor to confirm the unblocked officers.

"I hope no one does this again," Schumer said. "And I hope they learn the lesson Sen. Tuberville did, and that is: He held out for many, many months, hurt our national security, caused discombobulation to so many military families who have been so dedicated to our country, and didn't get anything that he wanted."

Read Next: Rescue Turns to Recovery as More Crew Members in Deadliest Air Force Osprey Crash Are Identified^[1]

While Tuberville’s new position still leaves at least 11 officers in limbo, the vast majority of the officers whose promotions had stalled because of him were able to move forward.

"We didn't get the win that we wanted," Tuberville acknowledged as he announced he was largely backing down. "We've still got a bad policy. We tried to stand up for the taxpayers of this country."

In late February, Tuberville announced he was placing what's known as a hold on all general and flag officers nominees in an effort to pressure the Pentagon to reverse its policy of covering travel and leave for service members who seek abortions.

While a hold cannot prevent the Senate from confirming nominees, it requires the chamber to take individual roll-call votes on each nominee rather than quickly confirming them in batches in a voice vote as it typically does for noncontroversial military promotions -- effectively grinding the military promotions process to a halt.

Tuberville's hold gradually ballooned to cover more than 450 officers. For months, he refused to relent despite arguments from Democrats, some Republicans, Pentagon officials and military families that he was harming national security and punishing military families for a policy they had no control over.

But as it became increasingly clear that enough of his Republican Senate colleagues would allow a Democratic effort to circumvent him to succeed, Tuberville reversed course.

His new stance will allow one-, two- and three-star generals and admirals to be promoted under the fast-track Senate procedures typically used for military nominees.

He said he is keeping the hold on four-stars because they "need to be vetted just like everybody else."

The Pentagon welcomed Tuberville's decision, but continued to encourage him to allow quick confirmation of the four-star nominees as well. Among those whose promotions are still delayed are the nominees to be vice chiefs of the Army^[2], Navy^[3], Air Force^[4] and Space Force^[5], and the commanders of Northern Command, Cyber Command, Space Command, Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command.

"Clearly vital and critical organizations, all of which require experienced senior leaders in those positions," Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters in a public briefing Tuesday.

Military families also expressed relief that their ordeal of waiting for spouses^[6]' promotions would soon be over.

"The heroes of today's news are the thousands of everyday military family members who stood up and said, 'Enough!' when a single senator decided to bully our community," Sarah Streyder, executive director of the Secure Families Initiative, which petitioned the Senate^[7] to end the holds, said in a statement. "We greet today's announcement with relief and tremendous pride in our SFI members for making a difference."

Before the end of the month, Democrats were planning to sidestep Tuberville's hold by essentially temporarily changing Senate rules to allow most of the nominees to be confirmed in a single vote. The rules change wouldn't have applied to members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and combatant commanders, putting the Senate in a similar place as it is now that Tuberville has backed down.

Also adding urgency to ending the standoff was the calendar. Military nominees who aren't confirmed by the end of the year would have had to be renominated, said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who confronted Tuberville about the holds on the Senate floor and had not ruled out supporting the Democratic rules change.

"They go back to the Armed Services Committee to start the process over again," Sullivan told reporters just before Tuberville's announcement. "My prediction, if that happens, you will have dozens, if not hundreds of the best military officers not just in America, but in the world say, 'You know what? I'm out of here.'"

-- Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

Related: Democratic Plan to End Senate Blockade of Military Promotions Takes Critical Step Forward^[8]

Houthi rebels are stepping up their maritime campaign of targeting vessels they claim to be connected to Israel and U.S. Navy^[1] warships are increasingly being caught in the crossfire, testing the limits of the Pentagon's claim it is successfully deterring further attacks in the Middle East.

U.S. Central Command announced^[2] on Sunday that the USS Carney responded to four attacks against three separate commercial vessels off the coast of Yemen and shot down drones. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday that "it's still important to understand and to focus on [the fact that] what's happening in Israel and within Gaza has not spread out into a wider regional conflict."

It was the fifth incident in the region in recent weeks where a Navy warship felt threatened enough to take the relatively rare step of firing its weapons, or encountered missiles flying in its vicinity. Meanwhile, Houthi rebels in Yemen have said the attacks are aimed at Israel, which remains at war with Hamas amid a U.S. military buildup in the region to support the Israelis and deter expansion of the conflict.

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Tensions in the Red Sea kicked off on Oct. 19 -- less than two weeks after Israel declared war on Hamas -- when the destroyer USS Carney detected and destroyed four land attack cruise missiles and 15 drones^[4] using its missiles and deck gun that were launched by the Houthis. The group is considered an Iranian-backed militia like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and smaller groups operating in Iraq and Syria.

It was not clear where the drones and missiles were headed, but officials in the Pentagon said they believed Israel to be the target.

The next incident didn't come until almost a month later on Nov. 15^[5] when the destroyer USS Hudner downed a drone coming from Yemen that came too close to it.

Then, just over a week later, on Nov. 26, the USS Mason responded to a distress call from a merchant ship under attack by individuals that Pentagon officials later said appear to be Somali. As the Mason was responding to the incident, missiles fired from Yemen landed about 10 miles from the ship^[6].

The next incident was just days later -- Nov. 29 -- when the Carney downed a drone heading in its direction. Then, just days after that incident, the Carney downed three more drones as it was responding to distress calls from merchant vessels under apparent missile attack.

The uptick in attacks, and the apparent targeting of merchant shipping, appears to be part of a concerted campaign by the Houthi rebels to target Israeli ships passing through the waterway that heads to the Suez Canal and then Israel.

In a statement reported^[7] by multiple outlets^[8], Houthi officials said^[9] that their forces will continue to "prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red Sea and [Gulf of Aden] until the Israeli aggression against our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip stops."

"The Yemeni armed forces^[10] renew their warning to all Israeli ships or those associated with Israelis that they will become a legitimate target if they violate what is stated in this statement," Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the group, said.

Israeli officials speaking to reporters have not denied the connection outright.

Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler, the Israeli Defense Forces international spokesman, told reporters last week that the merchant ships "have very minimal connection to Israel, if at all" and, instead framed the attacks as "terrorism against the freedom of navigation in the region."

The threat certainly appears to be felt on the decks of the Navy ships in the region.

Although Singh stressed that the Pentagon has no indications that either the drones or the missiles in any of the five incidents targeted Navy ships, self-defense was cited in every instance and a recent incident with an Iranian drone in the Persian Gulf underscores the threat ship commanders feel from the Houthi aircraft.

On Saturday, just a day before the Carney's last engagement with Houthi drones, U.S. Central Command released a picture^[11] of an Iranian drone flying in "an unsafe and unprofessional manner" within sight of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Arabian Sea.

On Monday, Singh said that "just because something is unsafe and unprofessional doesn't always meet the threshold to feel the need to shoot it down."

"It's up to the discretion of the commander," Singh added, when asked about the different responses to similar drones. "They have the absolute right to make that decision and make that call when it is happening in that moment."

This position by the Pentagon -- that ships and sailors are not being targeted outright -- is also being used as a way to push back on the idea that the U.S. needs to retaliate against Yemeni forces.

Singh said the situation "certainly is something that is very concerning to us, something that we're going to continue to monitor" but stopped short of saying that there are plans to retaliate like the military has done several times in Syria and Iraq.

Retaliatory actions in Iraq, specifically, have drawn the ire of the country's prime minister. There were also two planned retaliations^[12] on weapons storage facilities in Syria.

"If we decide to take action against the Houthis, it will, of course, be at a time and place of our choosing," Singh said.

Related: Retaliatory US Airstrikes Are Starting to Raise Tensions and Draw Ire in Middle East^[13]