The US Pentagon has warned that an oil tanker attacked by Yemen's Houthis last week is still on fire and could be leaking oil into the Red Sea, threatening an ecological disaster.
Last week the group targeted the Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion with three projectiles, sparking a fire and disabling the engine.
The Sounion's crew were rescued by a French naval vessel on Thursday after drifting for a day 77 nautical miles west of the port of Hodeidah.
On Friday the group, which controls most of Yemen and says its attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, posted a video purporting to show them setting the ship alight.
The EU's Aspides task force, an international naval force, said in a statement on X that there was no sign of fire on board the ship when the crew were rescued.
The tanker is carrying more than 150,000 tonnes of crude oil. Should a spill occur, it could be among the largest from a ship in recorded history.
The US State Department warned in a statement on Saturday that the potential spill could be four times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, when 257,000 barrels of oil leaked off the coast of Alaska.
According to Aspides, the EU military task force against the Houthis, the wreckage risks a "severe ecological disaster."
Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Maj Gen Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday that a third party had sent two tugboats to salvage the wreck but had been deterred by Houthi threats to attack them.
Ryder condemned the attacks as "reckless acts of terrorism" which "imperil the vibrant maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Houthis' own back yard," adding that the US military was working with partners in the region to mitigate any environmental impact.
Yemen's Ansar Allah group, known as the Houthis, started targeting any ship they deemed Israel-linked traversing the Red Sea in October 2023, vowing not to stop until Israel ends its war on Gaza.
Some ships with no relation to Israel have also been targeted over recent months.
While the group has so far sunk two ships - the Rubymar attacked in February and the Greek-flagged Tutor, which was targeted in June - the Sounion attack marks the first time the fighters have intentionally blown up an abandoned ship.
* * *
"As the current focus is on a possible oil leak from the Sounion, attention needs to be given to the challenges that will complicate salvage operations, and how navy forces can assist with that. At least two past ship attacks showed that the Houthis can return to the scene of a stricken commercial vessel to prevent or obstruct salvage operations. In the case of the Sounion, navy forces in the region may need to assist in preventing the Houthis from returning back to further damage the tanker," Maritime expert Noam Raydan, and author of The Chokepoint, pointed out.
Here's the latest positioning of US military maritime assets in the Middle East.
* * *
