The ship sank in the Red Sea on Saturday after being hit by an anti-ship ballistic missile on February 19, said the US Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for the Middle East. The approximately 21,000 tons of ammonium phosphate fertilizer on board the cargo ship “pose an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” the CENTCOM statement said.
The sunken ship also “poses a risk to other ships passing through the waterway’s busy shipping lanes.” The Yemeni government confirmed that the ship sank.
Houthis want to continue attacking British ships
Hussein al-Essi, who serves as the Houthis' deputy foreign minister, stressed that Essi stressed that they would continue to attack British ships.
APA/AFP/US Central Command aerial view of the sunken freighter “Rubymar”
Fuel leaks
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies published by AFP show fuel leaking from the cargo ship. According to the TankerTrackers website, “an environmental catastrophe is imminent in (Yemeni) territorial waters and the Red Sea.” Greenpeace also warned of an “environmental catastrophe”.
The cargo ship was traveling from the United Arab Emirates to the Bulgarian port of Varna. The crew managed to get to safety after the fire.
Many ships avoid the Suez Canal route
The Iranian-backed Houthi militia has intensified attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas in October. This is why many shipping companies are now avoiding the important maritime trade route, through which 12% of global maritime trade typically takes place.
The Houthis consider themselves part of the “Axis of Resistance” directed against Israel and supported by Iran, which includes Hamas and the Shiite Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
APA/AFP The ship before finally sinking
War inside Yemen
In late 2014, a war broke out in Yemen between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and the government army in the capital Sanaa. The Houthis overthrew President Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi, whom they accused of corruption and mismanagement. The leadership in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, was concerned that the influence of the Shiite Houthis, and therefore arch-rival Iran, could grow on its southern border.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict in Yemen and forged an alliance of Sunni countries against the Houthis. Today, the Saudi-backed government controls the south of the country, while Houthi rebels control the north.