A missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a U.S.-owned ship Monday just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after they fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea.
The attack on the M/V Gibraltar Eagle, later claimed by the Houthis, further escalates tensions gripping the Red Sea after American-led strikes on the rebels. The Houthis' attacks have roiled global shipping, amid Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, targeting a crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe.
"The Yemeni armed forces consider all American and British ships and warships participating in the aggression against our country as hostile targets," Houthi military spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Yahya Saree said in a recorded television address.
"All seafarers onboard the vessel are confirmed to be uninjured," the firm said. "The vessel is carrying a cargo of steel products. Eagle Bulk management is in close contact with all relevant authorities concerning this matter."
Satellite-tracking data analyzed by AP showed the Eagle Gibraltar had been bound for the Suez Canal, but rapidly turned around at the time of the attack.
Weeks of attacks on shipping
Sunday's attack toward the American warship also marked the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since the U.S. and allied nations began strikes Friday on the rebels, following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the U.S. would retaliate for the latest attacks, though President Joe Biden has said he "will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary."
The Houthi fire on Sunday went in the direction of the USS Laboon, a destroyer operating in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, the U.S. military's Central Command said in a statement.
The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge that attack.
The missile came from near Hodeidah, a Red Sea port city long held by the Houthis, the U.S. said.
"An anti-ship cruise missile was fired from Iranian-backed Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon," Central Command said. "There were no injuries or damage reported."
The UK Maritime Trade Operations organization said it received reports of a missile hitting a ship southeast of Yemen’s southern city of Aden, shortly after residents in the central province of Al-Bayda and neighboring Abyan province reported seeing a missile fired from a Houthi-controlled area.
UKMTO “has received a report of an incident 95NM South East of Aden, Yemen. Master reports port side of vessel hit from above by a missile,” the agency said.
The warning came roughly an hour after locals in Abyan’s Lawdar district — which is close to the missile’s supposed launch site — reported seeing a missile launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Al-Bayda’s Mukayras fly over their neighborhoods.
“The missile was launched at around 3:55 p.m. from a hilly position held by the Houthis in Mukayras, and residents heard an explosion and observed missile smoke in the sky,” Mohsen Al-Markhi, a journalist from Lawder, told Arab News by telephone.
Another missile launched by the Houthis exploded near a village in the southern province of Al-Dhale on Monday, only hours after the US shot down a Houthi missile aimed at a US Navy ship in the Red Sea.
Residents in the Jahaf district reported a massive explosion on Monday after a ballistic missile fell in a hilly part of the district.
Locals sent Arab News a video of a large ball of dust and smoke rising from the site after the missile blasts.
Residents say the missile was not targeting their neighborhoods and landed before it reached its intended target.
Yemen’s Defense Ministry news site reported that the ballistic missile was fired from the Houthi-controlled Al-Jaefri village in Al-Dhale and detonated in an area between two minor villages in Jahaf.
Since the start of the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea in November, residents across Yemen, primarily those living in or near Houthi-controlled territory, have reported seeing Houthi missiles and drones flying over their areas, while others exploded near their farms after failing to reach their targets.
This comes as the US Central Command said that an anti-ship missile launched by the Houthis was shot down by a US fighter aircraft near Yemen’s coastal city of Hodeidah before reaching its target, the USS Laboon naval destroyer.
The Houthis pledged retaliation for the US and UK raids on regions under their control on Friday, adding they would not back down from assaults on any Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea.
According to the Houthis, their efforts are intended to push Israel to lift its siege of Gaza.
In Sanaa, the Houthis said that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi called the leader of the militia’s Supreme Political Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, to denounce the UK and US strikes on Yemen and to urge them to continue their attacks on ships en route to Israel via the Red Sea.
“Raisi emphasized that Yemen’s move to safeguard international navigation and prohibit Israeli ships or those traveling to occupied Palestine from passing was courageous and prudent,” the official Houthi news agency quoted Raisi as saying to Al-Mashat.
Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, head of the militia’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said many ships had reported their destinations to them and alerted them that they had no ties with Israel while sailing through the Red Sea to avoid attacks following Houthi instructions to do so last week. He called on all such ships to follow suit.
In a post on X, Al-Houthi said: “We greet ships sailing through the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab, and the Arabian Sea that announce ‘We have no relationship with Israel.’”
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