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The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a detachment of the Royal Navy, reported on January 27 that a merchant vessel was struck by a missile some 60 nautical miles to the southeast of the port city of Aden in southern Yemen.
The strike resulted in a fire that was extinguished by the vessel’s crew, the UKMTO said in an advisory note, adding that U.S.-led coalition are responding to the incident.
Less than 24 hours earlier, a missile launched from Yemen by the Houthis (Ansar Allah) struck a tanker, the M/V Marlin Luanda, in the Gulf of Aden. The Iranian-backed group alleged that the tanker was British and said that the attack was a response to the Israeli war and siege on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The UK condemned the attack on the M/V Marlin Luanda and vowed to respond. Later U.S. strike hit what the Central Command said was anti-ship missiles set up by the Houthis. The strikes targeted the coastal area of Ras Issa in the western Yemeni port city al-Hudaydah, which is held by the group.
The Houthis have targeted dozens of Israel-affiliated vessels and others owned by the U.S. and the UK since November 19 in response to the ongoing Israeli war and siege on Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 26,000 Palestinains.
The U.S. and the UK retaliated to the Houthis’ recent attacks by carrying out dozens of strikes on military targets on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in recent weeks. However, the group remains undeterred.
