The sequence of events becomes predictable. The Houthis claimed responsibility for attacks on an American ship sailing in the Gulf of Aden near the Red Sea early on Friday, January 19, hours after Washington bombed those Yemeni rebels' sites on their territory.
“The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces [nom que se donne la branche armée des houthistes] “We conducted a targeted operation in the Gulf of Aden against an American ship, the Chem Ranger, with multiple anti-ship missiles, several of which hit their target,” they announced in a statement. “A response to the American and British attacks is inevitable, any further aggression will be punished,” the Yemeni rebels warned, saying they would only attack ships bound for Israel “as long as there is no ceasefire and the siege of Gaza is lifted becomes.” .”
According to the specialist website Marine Traffic, the Chem Ranger is an oil tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands – a Micronesian state in Oceania – that has been off the coast of Yemen in recent days.
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The attack was confirmed by the USA. The Chem Ranger crew “saw the missiles hit the water near the ship” and “there were no reports of injuries or damage” as the ship “continued its journey.” wrote the US military command in the Middle East (Centcom)..
For its part, the British Maritime Safety Authority reported an incident 115 nautical miles southeast of the Yemeni city of Aden with an explosion 30 meters from a ship. The British authority also reported four unidentified drones flying around a merchant ship further east.
Moscow calls on Washington to stop “aggression” against Yemen
The United States, for its part, recently attacked Houthi sites in Yemen for the fifth time in response to attacks by that Iran-backed group on merchant ships in the Red Sea, a key area for international trade. These American bombings were the second in less than 24 hours involving missiles from the Houthis, a group that Washington added to one of its lists of “terrorist organizations” on Wednesday.
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According to Centcom, the US destroyed “two anti-ship missiles aimed at the Red Sea” on Thursday afternoon. “We believe they were ready for the impending launch into the Red Sea,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council. Defense Ministry deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said those bombings, which began late last week and were partly carried out jointly with the United Kingdom, could have destroyed “a significant portion of the capabilities” of Yemen's rebels.
The attacks, which the Houthis say they are carrying out in “solidarity” with the population of this Palestinian territory, under the control of their Hamas allies and ravaged by war, have forced many shipowners to suspend the passage of their fleets through the Red Sea suspending for some time the diversion around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, increasing the time and cost of shipping.
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The Houthis say they will secure the passage of Chinese and Russian ships
US President Joe Biden said this week that the attacks would continue as long as the Houthis disrupted international maritime trade off Yemen. This Iranian-backed organization has attacked dozens of commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden believed to be “connected to Israel” since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
However, in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Minister called on the US to stop its “aggression” against Yemen. “The more the Americans and British bomb, the less the Houthis want to talk,” Sergey Lavrov said.
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“The madness and idiocy of the United States and the United Kingdom have worked against them: from now on, none of their ships will be able to pass through one of the most important trade routes in the world,” added Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, member of , adding the Houthis' management policies in an interview with the Russian daily Izvestia.
“The losses for the aggressor countries are greater than the losses for Yemen,” he said. “For other countries, including China and Russia, maritime traffic in the region is not at risk. Furthermore, we are even ready to ensure the safe passage of their ships through the Red Sea,” this Houthi official added. “But Israeli ships or those with even a weak connection to Israel will not have the slightest chance of crossing the Red Sea,” the official stressed, adding: “Our goal is to increase the economic costs for the Jewish state. “Stop the carnage in Gaza.
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Denmark joins the coalition
In light of these attacks, the United States formed a coalition to patrol the coast of Yemen and protect maritime traffic. Not all countries in this coalition are taking part in the strikes, but Denmark, home to the world's second-largest shipping company Maersk, announced on Thursday that it would join.
France has decided not to participate “to avoid an escalation in the region,” said its President Emmanuel Macron. Because these attacks on ships and the American attacks in response to them raise fears of a conflagration in the Middle East, while the war in Gaza is already having an impact on Lebanon and northern Israel, where there are almost daily clashes – Iranian Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
The Houthis have occupied a large part of Yemen since 2014 and the capture of the capital Saana, from where they overthrew the incumbent government that had sought refuge in the southern part of the country. In 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to support the Yemeni army and government.
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