Feb. 6 (UPI) — Seaborne Houthi rebels fired on a British cargo ship sailing in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen in the early hours of Tuesday, causing minor damage but without injuring any crew members.
The incident occurred after the ship’s master noticed a small craft alongside seconds before a “projectile” was fired at the Port side of the vessel which passed over the deck “slightly damaging” the windows of the bridge, the Royal Navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in an attack alert.
“The vessel and crew are all safe. Vessel proceeding on planned passage,” read the alert which urged vessels in the area to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.
UKMTO did not name the vessel targeted in the attack, which it said occurred 57 nautical miles northwest of the major Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, but Houthi rebels claimed it was the 9,000-ton British general cargo carrier Morning Tide.
Earlier, the Houthis claimed to have targeted a missile launch against an American Marshal Islands-flagged commercial vessel in the same area.
“We carried out two military operations, the first targeted an American ship (Star Nasia), and the other targeted a British ship (Morning Tide),” said spokesman Yahya Saree, adding that the attacks would continue until “the aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is stopped.”
The attacks came hours after the United States conducted defensive strikes in response to the targeting of ships against Houthi explosive sea drones in Yemen and two days after a series of U.S.-British airstrikes against Houthi-controlled military targets in the country.
The first wave on Saturday, hitting 36 Houthi targets across 13 locations, was followed Sunday by an attack to take out anti-ship cruise missiles.
Unlike the weekend strikes, which were conducted in tandem with Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark and other allies, Monday’s strikes were carried out by the United States alone.
The United States has been launching attacks into Yemen since Jan. 11 to try to deter the Iran-backed group from attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis say they are acting out of solidarity the Palestinians in Gaza.
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Monday on U.S. strikes in Iraq and Syria, after U.N. Political Affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned the ramping up of attacks against Iran proxies — 85 on Friday alone — risked a miscalculation, despite U.S. claims it was not seeking a conflict in the region.
“I reiterate the secretary-general’s call on all parties to step back from the brink and to consider the unbearable human and economic cost of a potential regional conflict,” she said.
