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The Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced on March 9 that they had attacked an American-owned cargo ship and several warships of the United States Navy in waters near Yemen.
In a statement, the Houthi military spokesman, Brigade General Yahya Sarea, said that the group targeted the Propel Fortune cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden with “a number of suitable naval missiles” and launched 37 suicide drones at U.S. Navy warships in the gulf and the Red Sea in support of the “oppressed Palestinian people” and in response to “American and British aggression” against Yemen.
The spokesman also warned that the group will not stop its attacks until “the Israeli offensive in Gaza stops and the siege imposed on the Palestinian people is lifted”.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a detachment of the Royal Navy, reported two blasts near a vessel, roughly 50 nautical miles off the coast of Aden on March 8.
Later, a Yemeni Coast Guard official confirmed to China’s Xinhua news agency that at least two missiles launched by the Houthis detonated in the vicinity of the Singapore-flagged Propel Fortune. The unnamed official didn’t report any casualties.
Also on March 9, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that its forces had repelled a large-scale drone attack by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
“CENTCOM and coalition forces identified the one-way attack (OWA) UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, U.S. Navy, and coalition ships in the region. U.S. Navy vessels and aircraft along with multiple coalition navy ships and aircraft shot down 15 OWA UAVs,” the command said in a statement.
The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, have targeted dozens of Israel-affiliated vessels and others owned by the U.S. and the United Kingdom in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 19 in response to the ongoing Israeli war and siege on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The U.S. and the UK retaliated to the repeated attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden by carrying out strikes on more than 200 targets in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. However, the group remains undeterred.
The Houthis recent attacks, including a deadly missile strike on an American-owned cargo ship earlier this week, indicate that their capabilities are still intact.
