The United States Naval Central Command (Centcom) announced this Sunday that it responded to a fire attack by Yemen's Houthis, a Shiite rebel movement sponsored by Iran, in the Red Sea and sank three of the attackers' boats, marking the first victims of the Yemeni movement in a direct confrontation with US forces in this sea route.
The US Navy, Centcom noted, was responding to a request for assistance from the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged, Danish-owned and operated container ship (the world's second largest container shipping firm), which had reported having been attacked for the second time in 24 hours while sailing in the Red Sea.
"On December 31 at 6:30 a.m. local time, the container ship Maersk Hangzhou issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting that it was under attack by four small Houthi vessels backed by Iran," according to the United States, which leads the coalition. naval force created this month to guarantee international maritime security in the Red Sea and the Bab al Mandeb Strait.
The US command stated that the four boats came from "areas controlled by the Houthis of Yemen", who have not yet claimed responsibility for this action.
The people who were on said vessels "shot" at the Singapore-flagged container ship "with small-caliber weapons, coming within 20 meters of the ship, and attempted to board it." Previously, the merchant ship had been the target of two ballistic missiles launched Saturday night from Yemeni territory controlled by the Houthis, which the US military shot down. The attack took place, according to the British Navy, 60 miles northwest of Al Hodeida, one of Yemen's main ports and controlled by the Houthis.
In this second attack. "A contract security team on the Maersk Hanzghou returned fire," the United States explains, and American helicopters responded to the distress call and in the process of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, they fired at the American helicopters with crew weapons and light weapons.
The US helicopters "returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats and killing their crew members. The fourth boat fled the area. No personal or property damage was caused," Centcom concluded in the statement.
This is the first direct confrontation between the United States and the Houthis that leaves victims among the insurgents since the rebels began launching barrages of missiles and drones two months ago against southern Israel and also against ships flying the flag of the Jewish State or owned by Israeli companies in the Red Sea and the Bab al Mandeb Strait.
With this weekend's attack, the Houthis have attacked international shipping 23 times since Nov. 19, Centcom said. The Houthi rebels, who belong to the so-called Axis of Resistance sponsored by Iran against Israel – along with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Lebanese Hizbullah and militias in Iraq and Syria – assure that their attacks are aimed at putting an end to the air and ground offensive. of Israel against the Gaza Strip.
After having suspended transit through that area, the Danish shipping company Maersk decided a few days ago to resume its passage through the Red Sea when the United States announced the creation of the new naval coalition to defend international maritime security. But after this weekend's attacks, the company has announced the suspension of navigation of all its ships in the Red Sea for 48 hours, the company announced. The attacked ship, with the capacity to transport 14,000 containers, was en route from Singapore.
According to the top commander of US naval forces in the Middle East, Houthi rebels have shown no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, even as more nations join the international maritime mission. to protect vessels in the vital waterway and commercial traffic begins to increase.
Since the Pentagon announced Operation Prosperity Guardian to counter the attacks just over ten days ago, 1,200 merchant ships have traveled through the Red Sea region and none had been hit by drone or missile attacks, the vice admiral said. Brad Cooper in an interview with the Associated Press.
