Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday hit a US-owned cargo vessel with a missile, the US military said, heightening fears for the volatile region after repeated attacks on shipping triggered US and British strikes.
After the Western strikes against scores of rebel targets on Friday last week, the Houthis said they would not be deterred, and declared that US and British interests were “legitimate targets.”
The Marshall Islands-flagged Gibraltar Eagle suffered a fire on board, but no casualties and remained seaworthy, the US Central Command said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its journey,” said US Central Command, which directs US military operations in the region.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree later said the rebels “carried out a military operation targeting an American ship” in the Gulf of Aden using “a certain number of appropriate naval missiles.”
A Houthi military and a Yemeni government source said that the insurgents fired three missiles.
An anti-ship ballistic missile launched earlier toward shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea failed in flight and crashed on land, US Central Command said.
The incident in the Gulf of Aden, south of the Red Sea, came a day after a Houthi cruise missile targeting a US destroyer was shot down by US warplanes.
Attacks by and against the Houthis, part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-aligned groups, have raised concerns about violence spreading in the region from the war in Gaza.
The Houthis say their attacks on Red Sea shipping are in solidarity with Gaza, where Iran-backed Hamas militants have been at war with Israel for more than three months.
About 12 percent of global trade normally passes through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea’s entrance between southwest Yemen and Djibouti, but the rebel attacks have caused much shipping to be diverted thousands of kilometers around Africa.
The US Department of Transportation on Monday recommended that US-linked commercial vessels do not enter the southern Red Sea, warning of “a high degree of risk” from “potential retaliatory attacks.”
In Monday’s attack, the UK Maritime Trade Operations security agency, run by Britain’s Royal Navy, reported a “vessel hit from above by a missile.”
Ambrey, a British maritime risk company, “assessed the attack to have targeted US interests in response to US military strikes,” adding that the vessel was “assessed to not be Israel-affiliated.”
“The impact reportedly caused a fire in a hold. The bulker reportedly remained seaworthy, and no injuries were reported,” Ambrey said in a report.
The ship was transiting the International Recommended Transit Corridor, a passage of the Gulf of Aden that is patrolled for pirates, when it was struck, Ambrey added.
Mohammed Albasha, senior Middle East analyst at the US-based Navanti Group consultancy, said the attack in the Gulf of Aden could signal a change in strategy by the Houthis.
“With the US Navy and Royal Navy warships directing their firepower primarily to the Red Sea, I expect a potential shift, where the Houthis redirect their attention to vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea,” he said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday told lawmakers in London that an initial assessment showed “all 13 planned targets were destroyed” last week.
Buildings at a drone and cruise missile base, and an airfield, as well as a cruise missile launcher, were struck, he said.
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