Three crew members of a merchant ship died Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden in the first deadly attack by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen, the US military said Thursday.
On Wednesday, at least two people were reported killed in a Houthi attack on a ship in the Gulf of Aden and six others were injured.
US Middle East Command (Centcom) said the Barbadian-flagged cargo ship True Confidence, controlled by Liberian interests, was hit by a missile fired from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
“The missile hit the ship and the crew recorded three deaths, at least four injuries, three of whom were in critical condition, and significant damage,” Centcom said, as quoted by the French news agency AFP.
The Philippine government said the attack left two Filipinos dead and two others “seriously injured.”
The nationality of the third fatality has not been released.
This Thursday, the Indian Navy released photographs of the rescue operation in which 21 crew members, including an Indian national, were rescued and taken to Djibouti.
Yemen’s rebels, who have close ties to Iran, have stepped up attacks in recent months in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, important global trade routes.
They claim to be acting in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where the war between Israel and Hamas is now in its fifth month.
The attacks target ships that the rebels believe are associated with Israel or its allies, namely the United States.
In a statement posted on social media, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sari said the merchant ship was shot down after “the crew rejected warning messages.”
The British navy agency UKMTO said the crew had been forced to abandon ship.
According to UKMTO, the commercial vessel was contacted by “an entity purporting to be the Yemeni Navy and ordered it to change course.”
In December, the United States created a multinational naval force to protect merchant shipping and launched attacks, sometimes with the help of the United Kingdom, on rebel positions in Yemen.
Following Wednesday’s deadly attack, a US diplomatic official said Washington would continue to hold the Houthis responsible for instability in the region.
The actions of the rebels who control vast areas of Yemen have forced many shipowners to suspend passage through these important sea routes.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), container traffic through the Red Sea fell by almost 30% over the year.
Before the war, between 12% and 15% of global traffic passed through the Red Sea, according to the European Union.
On Wednesday evening, U.S. forces destroyed two aerial drones “in an area under Houthi control” that posed “an immediate threat to U.S. merchant and naval vessels,” according to Centcom.
In February, Yemeni rebels attacked a ship carrying chemical fertilizers, which sank and risked causing severe environmental damage in the Red Sea.
Yemen, at war for more than a decade, is considered the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.