A U.S. destroyer patrolling within the Crimson Sea Saturday shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen whereas it was responding to a report {that a} industrial vessel was itself struck by a missile, U.S. authorities mentioned.
Hours later, 4 boats tried to assault the identical U.S. container vessel. U.S. forces opened fireplace, sinking three of the 4 boats and killing the crews, U.S. Central Command mentioned. There was no injury to U.S. personnel or tools.
In response to U.S. Central Command, the container ship Maersk Hangzhou — which is Danish-owned however sails below a Singaporean flag — reported at 8:30 p.m. native time that it had been struck by a missile within the Southern Crimson Sea.
Nobody was harm and the ship remained seaworthy, CENTCOM reported in a social media put up.
Nonetheless, whereas responding to help the Maersk Hangzhou, the united statesGravely shot down two anti-ship missiles which had been fired from Yemen, CENTCOM mentioned. The missiles appeared to have been directed at the united statesGravely and the united statesLaboon, which was additionally responding to the Maersk Hangzhou, CENTCOM mentioned.
The container ship issued a second misery round 6:30 a.m. native time on Sunday, CENTCOM mentioned, with boats originiating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, fired crew served and small arms weapons on the Maersk Hangzhou. CENTCOM mentioned the small boats acquired inside 20 meters of the Maersk Hangzhou, and tried to board the vessel, resulting in a contract safety group to return fireplace.
U.S. helicopters from the united statesEisenhower and Gravely responded to the misery name and within the strategy of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, the small boats returned fireplace upon the U.S. helicopters and crew, CENTCOM mentioned. The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fireplace in self-defense, sinking three of the 4 small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the realm.
The Iranian-backed Houthi militant group — which controls massive parts of Yemen — has been concentrating on industrial vessels within the Crimson Sea since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, slaughtering at the least 1,200 folks and sparking the continuing Israel-Hamas battle.
U.S. Central Command
In response to CENTCOM, Saturday’s incident was the twenty third such assault by the Houthis on worldwide transport vessels since Nov. 19.
Earlier this month, CENTCOM reported that the united statesCarney, a guided missile destroyer, shot down 14 assault drones suspected to have been fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen.
The White Home final week accused Tehran of being “deeply concerned” within the spate of Crimson Sea assaults by Houthi rebels on industrial vessels, an allegation which Iran’s deputy international minister denied.
The Pentagon reported that on Dec. 23, a chemical tanker off the coast of India was struck by a drone which had been fired from Iran. That ship sailed below a Liberian flag and was Dutch-operated. Nobody was wounded.
And in a Nov. 15 interview with CBS Information, Iranian International Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian additionally denied that Iran was liable for a drone fired from Yemen that was shot down by the guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner. The drone seemed to be concentrating on the Hudner, U.S. officers mentioned on the time.
“We actually did not need this disaster to develop,” Amir-Abdollahian instructed CBS Information, referencing the Israel-Hamas battle. “However the U.S. has been intensifying the battle in Gaza by throwing its assist behind Israel. Yemen makes its personal choices and acts independently.”
Final week, power big BP introduced it was quickly suspending all gasoline and oil shipments within the Crimson Sea due to the assaults.
Dwelling furnishing big Ikea additionally mentioned that it may quickly face shortages as a result of main shippers had been being pressured to bypass the Crimson Sea, which hyperlinks the Crimson Sea to the Mediterranean and marks the shortest commerce route between Europe and Asia, in line with the Freights Baltic Index.
— Elizabeth Napolitano contributed to this report.