Several major shipping companies have suspended their traffic through the Gulf because of the attacks.
Sanaa:
Yemen's Houthi rebels reported another attack on a U.S. ship early Friday after the United States launched fresh attacks on rebel targets because of its aggression against ships in and around the Red Sea.
While the Iran-backed rebels claimed they had attacked the merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden, the US military later said the group's missiles had missed their target.
In a statement posted on social media, the Houthis said their “naval forces…conducted a targeted operation against an American ship” – identified as a Chem Ranger – “with several appropriate naval missiles, resulting in direct hits.”
No timing or further details were given about the latest attack on international shipping routes.
The U.S. military's Middle East Central Command said in its own statement that the Houthis on Thursday evening “fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles at the M/V Chem Ranger, a Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned ship. “Tanker operated by Greece”.
“The crew observed the missiles hitting the water near the ship. No injuries or damage to the ship were reported,” the command said on the social media platform X.
Ongoing Houthi aggression against ships in and around the Red Sea has led to attacks by American and British forces in Yemen, with the United States reporting its latest attack on Houthi targets on Thursday.
Trade website Marine Traffic said the Chem Ranger was a chemical tanker traveling from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Kuwait.
British maritime risk management company Ambrey said a Marshall chemical tanker traveling the same route reported an incident southeast of the Yemeni port of Aden.
“An Indian warship responded to the incident,” it said.
Britain's maritime safety agency UKMTO also reported an incident in the same area, without naming the ship, adding in a bulletin that “the ship and crew are safe and the ship is heading to the nearest port.”
Ongoing strikes
Since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 with Hamas's bloody attack on Israel, the Houthis have carried out numerous attacks on shipping in the waters around Yemen.
The Houthi statement said the rebels were acting against “the oppression of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in response to US-British aggression against our country.”
US President Joe Biden acknowledged on Thursday that US counterstrikes had not yet deterred the Houthi attacks, but added: “Will they continue? Yes.”
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that U.S. forces on Thursday “striked some anti-ship missiles that we had reason to believe were being prepared for an imminent launch toward the southern Red Sea.” became”.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said U.S. Navy warplanes carried out the strikes and that the airstrikes that began last week against the Houthis could have “impaired and significantly disrupted and destroyed a significant portion of their capabilities.”
Several major shipping companies have suspended services through the area due to the attacks.
Russia said on Thursday the United States should stop its attacks against the Houthis to support a diplomatic resolution to the attacks on merchant ships.
“The most important thing now is to stop the aggression against Yemen, because the more Americans and British bomb, the less willing the Houthis are to talk,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Denmark said on Thursday it would join the coalition behind airstrikes against the Houthis.
The Scandinavian country, which previously announced it would send a frigate to the region, is home to shipping giant Maersk, which is among the companies that have rerouted ships away from the Red Sea.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)