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UK and US naval forces have repelled “the largest attack” by Houthis in the Red Sea to date”, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Wednesday.
A British warship destroyed “multiple attack drones with her guns and sea viper missiles”, Shapps added, hours after Washington said the two countries’ forces had shot down 18 drones and three missiles on Tuesday.
The US and British navies responded to Yemen’s Houthi rebels firing one of their largest barrages of drones and missiles that targeted shipping in the Red Sea. The attack by the Houthis came despite a planned UN Security Council vote later 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 military campaign in the Gaza.
HMS DIAMOND, along with US warships, has repelled the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.Destroying multiple attack drones with her guns and sea viper missiles. pic.twitter.com/kFjFKj6TM6
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) January 10, 2024
The attack happened off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey. In the Hodeida incident, 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.”
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 Marine Trade Operations also acknowledged the incident 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.
Houthi Attack on International ShippingOn Jan. 9, at approximately 9:15 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled… pic.twitter.com/KWPRidwiWI
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 10, 2024
The US military 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 American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason, as well as the United Kingdom’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.” “Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity,” the UKTMO added.
UKIMTO WARNING 005/JAN/2024 UPDATE 001IRREGULAR ACTIVITYhttps://t.co/zHGNgQp1UB#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/Eucskf5InR
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 9, 2024
The Houthis, a Shiite group that’s held Yemen’s capital since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks. However, the pan-Arab news network quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces “targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea.” The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country’s war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.
The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That strait is only 29 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Some 10 percent of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated USD 1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.
UN draft resolution
A US draft resolution before the UN Security Council, obtained late Tuesday by The Associated Press, says the Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce “and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.” The resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that it seized in November along with its crew.
An initial draft of the resolution would have recognised “the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to take appropriate measures to defend their merchant and naval vessels.” The final draft is weaker, eliminating any UN recognition of a country’s right to defend its ships, AP reported. Instead, it would affirm that the navigational rights and freedoms of merchant and commercial vessels must be respected, and take note “of the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to defend their vessels from attacks, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.”
(With agency inputs)
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