Houthi rebels claimed to have hit another US merchant ship in a fresh missile attack in the Red Sea last night, as US forces launched attacks on drones and ground control stations in Yemen.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree claimed the US failed to prevent one of its missiles from hitting the Koi, a Liberian-flagged ship.
Saree declared the attack “a victory for the oppressed Palestinian people and a response to US-British aggression against our country.”
It comes just days after the Marlin Luanda, an oil tanker owned by the same company, was set ablaze by a Houthi rebel rocket over the weekend.
Shocking images showed an inferno raging on the tanker's deck that took hours to extinguish.
Meanwhile, American forces carried out strikes in Yemen this morning against 10 attack drones and a ground control station controlled by Houthi rebels, the US military said.
Early Thursday local time, U.S. forces targeted a “Houthi UAV ground control station and ten Houthi disposable UAVs” that “posed an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy vessels in the region,” U.S. Central Command said ( CENTCOM) in a statement.
This came hours after its warship USS Carney also shot down an anti-ship missile fired by the Houthis and three Iranian drones – a move that could increase tensions between the US and Iran, which have so far sought direct conflict to be avoided in the region.
Houthi fighters raise rifles, Yemen and Palestine flags and Houthi emblems march during an armed rally and parade against the US-British airstrikes and in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip on January 28, 2024
During a rally in support, protesters shout slogans while holding a Palestinian flag and placards that read “Boycott US and Israeli goods” and “Allah is the greatest of all, death to America, death to Israel, a curse to the Jews.” “Victory for Islam” held by the Palestinian people, in Sanaa, Yemen, January 31, 2024
In this handout image released on January 27, 2024, smoke rises from the merchant ship Marlin Luanda after the ship was hit by a Houthi anti-ship missile at the location indicated as the Gulf of Aden
Attack on the oil tanker Marlin Luanda in the Gulf of Aden. The FREMM-DA Alsace with USS Carney & INS Visakhapatnam assisted the tanker and its crew, which were hit by a Houthi missile
The reported attack on the Koi comes just days after the Marlin Luanda, an oil tanker owned by the same company, was set ablaze by a Houthi rebel missile over the weekend
Private security company Ambrey reported on Wednesday evening that a ship was indeed attacked with a missile near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, but did not give its name.
Koi managers could not immediately be reached for comment and it was unclear whether the reported missile attack caused any damage or injuries.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea in connection with Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
But they have often targeted ships with weak or no clear ties to Israel, endangering shipping on a key route for global trade between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
In response, U.S. and British forces launched several rounds of airstrikes against the Houthis, while allied warships patrolled waterways affected by the attacks.
In addition to military action, Washington has sought to put diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis by redesignating them as a terrorist organization in early January, after previously dropping that designation shortly after President Joe Biden took office.
But the Houthis have now also declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets.
Now the conflict in the region appears to be heating up, with the UK reportedly poised to send the £3.5bn aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth into the Red Sea this week after the Iran-backed Houthis vowed to block shipping to disrupt in the “long term”. .
Britain is “ready to send the £4bn aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (pictured) to the Red Sea this week” after the Iran-backed Houthis vowed to cut off shipping “for the long term”.
British troops in the Middle East are on “high alert” for Iranian attacks as the US plots revenge for the killing of three American soldiers. Pictured: Houthi rebels in Yemen
The UK has already carried out a series of airstrikes on Houthi targets in collaboration with the US
The Mail was told that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin had urged politicians to deploy an aircraft carrier to the region when the crisis began in October. However, the chief of defense staff was overruled when ministers decided to send RAF Typhoons based in Cyprus on 3,000-mile trips.
Now British troops in the region are said to be on alert in case of Iranian counterstrikes, as Washington prepares to respond to the killing of three US soldiers by Tehran-backed militants.
The United States on Wednesday attributed the drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias.
Iran threatened a “strong response” to any attack on the Islamic Republic after the US said it would blame Tehran.
The US has signaled it is preparing for retaliatory strikes in the Middle East after a drone strike on Sunday that also wounded more than 40 soldiers at Tower 22, a secret base in northeastern Jordan that is responsible for the American presence in neighboring Syria was crucial.
As of Wednesday, Iran-aligned militias had carried out 166 attacks on U.S. military facilities since Oct. 18.
According to the US military, 67 of them are in Iraq, 98 in Syria and one in Jordan.
This came after the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group (pictured with weapons in vehicles at a parade against US-British airstrikes) said it would step up its “self-defense” attacks on all US and British warships stationed in the Red Sea
The rebels, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have attacked ships in and around the Red Sea and said they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war
The US has struck back against the militias several times in the last three months.
But any further American attacks could further inflame a region already reeling from Israel's ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The war began with a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.
Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 26,000 Palestinians and forced nearly two million more from their homes, sparking outrage across the Muslim world.
There have been outbreaks of violence across the Middle East: Iran is attacking targets in Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, and the US is carrying out airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over their attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Some observers fear a new round of attacks against Iran could plunge the region into a wider war.