Yemen’s Houthis launch their largest Red Sea drone and missile attack yet
DUBAI — Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired their largest barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea, prompting the U.S. and British navies to shoot down the projectiles in a major naval engagement, authorities said Wednesday. No damage was immediately reported.
The attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis came hours before a planned United Nations Security Council vote Wednesday to potentially condemn and demand an immediate halt to the attacks by the rebels, who say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
However, their targets increasingly have tenuous relationships — or none at all — with Israel and imperil a crucial trade route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe. That raises the risk of a U.S. retaliatory strike on Yemen that could upend an uneasy cease-fire that’s held in the Arab world’s poorest country.
The assault happened off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey. In the Hodeida attack, Ambrey said ships described over radio seeing missiles and drones, with U.S.-allied warships in the area urging “vessels to proceed at maximum speed.â€
Off Mokha, ships saw missiles fired, a drone in the air and small vessels trailing them, Ambrey said early Wednesday. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations also acknowledged the attack off Hodeida.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said the “complex attack†launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile.
Missiles, rockets and drones strike targets around the Middle East as the United States, Israel and others clashed with Iran-allied militant groups
It said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Gravely, Laboon and Mason, along with Britain’s HMS Diamond.
“This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19,†Central Command said. “There were no injuries or damage reported.â€
“Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity,†U.K. Maritime Trade Operations added.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken emphasized the gravity of the Houthi threat to global commerce and renewed U.S. warnings of a response.
“I’m not going to telegraph or preview anything that might happen,†Blinken said in Bahrain, the latest stop in a Mideast tour seeking to calm the region. “We’ve been clear with more than 20 other countries that if this continues, as it did yesterday, there will be consequences. And I’m going to leave it at that.â€
British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps described the assault as “the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date,†saying the Diamond used Sea Viper missiles and guns to shoot down multiple drones.
The word has become shorthand for systems of oppressive rule around the world — and a popular refrain of pro-Palestinian activists.
“The U.K. alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences,†Shapps said in a statement. “We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.â€
The Houthis, a Shiite group that has held Yemen’s capital since 2014, later claimed responsibility for the attack in a televised statement by rebel spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree. Saree said the attack “targeted an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity,†without elaborating. He also described it as an “initial response†to U.S. troops sinking Houthi vessels and killing 10 rebel fighters last week.
The Houthis will “continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Red Sea until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip ends,†Saree said.
The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive in Gaza. The links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks have continued.
A U.S.-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try to prevent the attacks. American troops in one conflict sank Houthi vessels and killed 10 rebel fighters. There’s been no broad retaliatory strike yet, despite warnings from the U.S. But Tuesday’s attack appeared to be testing what response, if any, would come from Washington.
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