By JON GAMBRELL (Associated Press)
JERUSALEM (AP) — A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck a U.S.-owned ship Monday simply off the coast of Yemen within the Gulf of Aden, lower than a day after Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile towards an American destroyer within the Red Sea, officers stated.
The assault on the Gibraltar Eagle, although not instantly claimed by the Houthis, additional escalates tensions gripping the Red Sea after American-led strikes on the rebels. The Houthis’ assaults have roiled world delivery, amid Israel’s conflict with Hamas within the Gaza Strip, focusing on an important hall linking Asian and Mideast vitality and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, stated Monday’s assault occurred some 110 miles (177 kilometers) miles southeast of Aden. It stated the ship’s captain reported that the “port side of vessel hit from above by a missile.”
Private safety corporations Ambrey and Dryad Global instructed The Associated Press that the vessel was the Eagle Gibraltar, a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk provider. The U.S. army’s Central Command later acknowledged the strike, blaming the Houthis for the assault.
“The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its journey,” Central Command stated.
The ship is owned by Eagle Bulk, a Stamford, Connecticut-based agency traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The agency didn’t reply to repeated requests for remark.
Satellite-tracking knowledge analyzed by the AP confirmed the Eagle Gibraltar had been sure for the Suez Canal, however quickly rotated on the time of the assault.
Sunday’s missile launch towards the American warship additionally marked the primary U.S.-acknowledged hearth by the Houthis since America and allied nations started strikes Friday on the rebels following weeks of assaults on delivery within the Red Sea.
The Houthi hearth within the route of the USS Laboon, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer working within the southern reaches of the Red Sea, Central Command stated.
The Houthis didn’t instantly acknowledge that assault both.
The missile got here from close to Hodeida, a Red Sea port metropolis lengthy held by the Houthis, the U.S. stated.
“An anti-ship cruise missile was fired from Iranian-backed Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon,” Central Command stated. “There were no injuries or damage reported.”
It wasn’t presently clear whether or not the U.S. would retaliate for the most recent assaults, although President Joe Biden has stated he “will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”
The first day of U.S.-led strikes Friday hit 28 areas and struck greater than 60 targets with cruise missiles and bombs launched by fighter jets, warships and a submarine. Sites hit included weapon depots, radars and command facilities, together with in distant mountain areas, the U.S. has stated.
The Houthis have but to acknowledge how extreme the harm was from the strikes, which they stated killed 5 of their troops and wounded six others.
U.S. forces adopted up with a strike Saturday on a Houthi radar web site.
Shipping by means of the Red Sea has slowed over the assaults. The U.S. Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to keep away from areas round Yemen within the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for 72 hours after the preliminary airstrikes.
For their half, the Houthis alleged with out offering proof that the U.S. struck a web site close to Hodeida on Sunday across the identical time because the cruise missile hearth. The Americans and the United Kingdom didn’t acknowledge conducting any strike — suggesting the blast might have been from a misfiring Houthi missile.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly focused ships within the Red Sea, saying they had been avenging Israel’s offensive in Gaza towards Hamas. But they’ve continuously focused vessels with tenuous or no clear hyperlinks to Israel, imperiling delivery in a key route for world commerce.
Even the chief of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, obliquely referenced the widening Houthi assaults on ships in a speech Sunday, saying that “the sea has become a battlefield of missiles, drones and warships” and blaming the U.S. strikes for escalating maritime tensions.
“The most dangerous thing is what the Americans did in the Red Sea, (it) will harm the security of all maritime navigation,” Nasrallah stated.
Though the Biden administration and its allies have tried to calm tensions within the Middle East for weeks and forestall any wider battle, the strikes within the Red Sea threaten to ignite one.
It’s additionally affecting delivery for the Middle East nation of Qatar, one of many world’s high pure gasoline suppliers. Three liquid pure gasoline tankers that had just lately loaded in Qatar and had been sure for the Suez Canal stay idling off Oman, whereas one other coming from Europe to Qatar stays off Saudi Arabia. QatarPower and authorities officers didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Saudi Arabia, which helps the Yemeni government-in-exile that the Houthis are preventing, sought to distance itself from the assaults on Houthi websites because it tries to keep up a fragile détente with Iran and a cease-fire it has in Yemen. The Saudi-led, U.S.-backed conflict in Yemen that started in 2015 has killed greater than 150,000 folks, together with fighters and civilians, and created one of many world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of hundreds extra.
The American army didn’t particularly say the hearth focused the Laboon, following a sample by the U.S. because the Houthi assaults started. However, U.S. sailors have obtained fight ribbons for his or her actions within the Red Sea — one thing handed out solely to those that face energetic hostilities with an enemy pressure.
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Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”