2 attacks launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels strike container ships in vital Red Sea corridor
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2 attacks launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels strike container ships in vital Red Sea corridor
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said.
The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.
The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country’s war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.
Who are the Houthis?
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have sharply escalated their attacks in the Red Sea.
Houthi rebels swept down from their northern stronghold in Yemen and seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, launching a grinding war.
They have sporadically targeted ships in the region over time, but the attacks have increased since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Read more on who the rebels are, and why the US hasn’t retaliated for their attacks on ships in the Middle East.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the (Red Sea) until they bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need,” the Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said in a statement claiming responsibility for Friday’s attacks.
The recent attacks led Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, to announce Friday that it’s told all of its vessels planning to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to “pause their journey until further notice.” German-based shipper Hapag-Lloyd that was operating the Al Jasrah also said it was pausing all its container ship traffic through the Red Sea until Monday.
Meanwhile, hijackers, likely from Somalia, separately seized a Bulgarian ship in the Arabian Sea.
A U.S. defense official and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said the MSC Palatium III, a Liberian-flagged container ship, caught fire after the strike. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone on board the vessel had been hurt.
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Two missiles were fired in the attack, likely trying to hit the Al Jasrah, the U.S. official said. One went wide and splashed down in the water, the other slammed into the Palatium, the official said.
The Palatium turned around after the attack and was now trying to head south, tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed.
