US navy says the container ship was hit off the coast of Yemen, however continued its journey.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have struck a US-owned and operated container ship with an anti-ship ballistic missile off the coast of Yemen, america Central Command mentioned.
In an announcement on Monday, the US navy mentioned that no accidents or vital harm had been reported and that the Marshall Islands-flagged Gibraltar Eagle was persevering with its journey after the incident within the Gulf of Aden.
The Yemeni insurgent group has claimed duty for the assault.
“All American and British ships and warships concerned within the aggression towards our nation are thought-about hostile targets,” navy spokesperson Yahya Saree mentioned, earlier than including that no future American or British assault on Yemen would go “unpunished”.
Earlier, the UK Maritime Commerce Operations (UKMTO) company mentioned {that a} vessel was hit from above by a missile 95 nautical miles southeast of Aden, with out figuring out the vessel.
British Maritime Safety agency Ambrey mentioned three missiles had been reportedly launched by the Houthis, with two not reaching the ocean and the third placing the majority provider. It mentioned that the influence reportedly precipitated a hearth in a maintain, however that the bulker remained seaworthy with no accidents on board. It assessed the vessel was not Israel-affiliated.
The assault on the ship comes lower than a day after the Houthis launched an anti-ship cruise missile towards a US destroyer within the Pink Sea, US officers mentioned.
The Houthis management western Yemen, together with the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which leads into the Pink Sea and as much as the Suez Canal.
Since Israel’s battle in Gaza started, they’ve been attacking ships within the space that they are saying are linked to Israel or sure for Israeli ports.
They are saying they’re attacking the vessels to stress Israel to halt its assault on Gaza and ease restrictions on provides of humanitarian assist for its Palestinian inhabitants. Israel has been at battle with Hamas, the group that governs Gaza, for greater than three months.
US and British forces responded to the Houthi assaults final week by finishing up dozens of air and sea strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, the chief of the Houthis, has pledged revenge. On Thursday, he said that “any assault on Yemen’s Houthis on the a part of america is not going to go with no response.”
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna mentioned that US officers imagine that after the strikes final week, the Houthis retained about three-quarters of their capability to fireside missiles and launch drones.
“This latest assault on a US-owned freighter was launched, it might seem, from town of Hodeidah, which was a goal of US-UK strikes in latest days,” Hanna mentioned.
“So, the ante is rising when it comes to what is occurring … the scenario may be very dire and one thing that US intelligence is watching very carefully.”
Omar Rahman, a fellow with the Center East Council on International Affairs, mentioned one-off strikes concentrating on Houthi installations wouldn’t cut back the group’s functionality or deter them from attacking ships within the Pink Sea.
“What the US and UK are doing isn’t strategically justifiable. It’s solely justifiable should you have a look at what the Houthis are doing within the Pink Sea in isolation from what’s taking place in Gaza and in the remainder of the area,” he advised Al Jazeera.
“The US and UK are ignoring the supply of the disaster, which is the genocide in Gaza, however they’re additionally enabling it,” Rahman mentioned. “They’re attempting to forestall a wider regional escalation by taking navy motion towards the flashpoints which are occurring because of what’s taking place in Gaza.”
