DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two attacks Yemen’s Houthi rebels as it targeted ships in the Red Sea on Monday New US aircraft carrier It reached out to the region to provide security for a key international trade route that has come under attack since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war nine months ago.
According to British and US officials, three small Houthi ships, two of them crewed and one unmanned, attacked the Panamanian-flagged MT Bently I, off the coast of Al Hudaydah, Yemen.
“A reported unmanned small craft collided with the ship twice and 2 manned small craft fired at the ship,” the British Army’s United Kingdom Maritime Operations Center said. “The ship took defensive action and after 15 minutes the smaller vessel called off the attack.”
The captain later reported three separate waves of missile strikes that exploded near the ship.
On Monday, in a separate incident off the same coast, the MT Chios Lion, a Liberian-flagged and Marshall Islands-owned oil tanker, was hit by an unmanned Houthi aerial vehicle, causing “some damage to the port. Light smoke,” UKMTO said.
The UKMTO has warned mariners that both vessels and all crew are safe.
Late Monday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for attacks on Bentley Eye and the Lion of Chios.
Early Tuesday morning, US Central Command confirmed the attacks and identified the ship’s names and flags.
“The continued reckless behavior of the Iran-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of marines across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the Central Command statement said. “The Houthis claim to act on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza, but they target and threaten the lives of third-country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza.”
On Monday, the Central Command said US forces destroyed five Houthi aerial vehicles, three over the Red Sea and two in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
USS Theodore Roosevelt is approaching the Middle East to replace the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, He spent months in the Red Sea fighting the Houthis.
The rebels targeted more than 70 ships with missiles and drones, killing four sailors. They are A ship was captured And Two sank From November.
In June, the number of Houthi attacks on merchant ships increased to a level not seen since December, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, which is monitored by the US Navy. US-led airstrikes have been targeting the Houthis since January Continued strike on May 30 Insurgents say at least 16 people were killed and 42 wounded.
The Houthis are believed to be targeting ships linked to Israel, the US or Britain as part of the rebels’ support for the anti-Israel militant group Hamas. However, many of the ships attacked had little or no connection to the war – some were bound for Iran, which supports the Houthis.
Last week, the Houthis fired missiles at a US-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Aden, marking what officials acknowledged was the rebels’ longest-range attack on a US-flagged vessel near the Arabian Sea. JMIC identified the vessel as Maersk Sentosa. The Danish company Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, confirmed to The Associated Press that its ship had been targeted.
