Houthi missile downed by US
SANAA: US forces struck an anti-ship missile in Houthiheld Yemen that they said was ready to fire, hours after the Iran-backed rebels attacked and caused a fire on a British tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
US and British forces have launched joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis’ attacks on ships in the Red Sea trade route in support of Hamas in its war with Israel.
The US military’s Central Command, CENTCOM, said it had carried out a strike early Saturday on a Houthi “antiship missile aimed into the Red Sea and which was prepared to launch.
“Forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missile in self-defence,” it said.
The Houthis’ Al-Masirah television said the US and Britain had launched two air strikes on the port of Ras Issa in Yemen’s Hodeida province, which hosts the country’s main oil export terminal.
The previous evening, the Houthis’ military spokesman Yahya Saree said missiles fired by the rebels had hit the Marlin Luanda, an oil tanker operated by a British firm on behalf of trading giant Trafigura Group.
“The strike was direct, and resulted (in) the burning of the vessel,” Saree said.
CENTCOM said the hit had started a “major fire”. Other vessels had come to the ship’s assistance, including the USS Carney, the French navy frigate FS Alsace and Indian navy Frigate INS Visakhapatnam.
“Thanks to this rapid response by the US, Indian and French navies, the fire is now extinguished,” it said.
“There were no casualties in the attack, the ship remains seaworthy and has returned to its previous course,” it added, confirming an earlier statement from Trafigura.
In its statement, the company said that “no further vessels operating on behalf of Trafigura are currently transiting the Gulf of Aden”.
The Indian navy said the Marlin Luanda has 22 Indians and one Bangladeshi on board.
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said his government remains “as committed as ever” to protecting freedom of navigation following the latest “intolerable and illegal” attack by Houthi rebels.