US forces strike 10 Houthi drones as militia claims new merchant ship attack in Red Sea
▶ UK maritime security company Ambrey said vessel reported explosion south of Aden as tension escalates
Ten Houthi drones that were being prepared to launch towards ships in the Red Sea were hit overnight by US air strikes, the US Central Command said.
The Iran-backed Yemeni group claimed on Thursday to have struck another commercial ship with a missile.
UK maritime security company Ambrey said a vessel reported an explosion south of Aden in southern Yemen, while a Houthi spokesman said “a number of appropriate missiles” had been fired at the KOI, which had been struck.
The Houthis said the KOI was an American vessel en route to ports in occupied Palestine.
However, shipping data on the vessel, studied by energy analyst Noam Raydan, said the ship followed a set path between several ports in South Asia, the Middle East and Europe, but not Israel.
Reuters said the KOI is a Liberian-flagged container ship operated by UK-based Oceonix Services.
The US continued “defensive” raids against Houthi missile positions. ” A senior defence official in Bahrain just told us that 10 minutes ago the F-18 Super Hornets bombed 10 unmanned drones in western Yemen that were preparing to launch,” a CBS News reporter wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
It comes on the same day that the US Central Command said its forces “struck and destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile prepared to launch”.
“US forces identified the missile in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that it presented an imminent threat to US aircraft,” it said.
Al Masirah, a Yemeni news outlet operated by the Houthis, reported an “American-British aggression [against] targets” in the city of Hodeidah.
Fox News reported that the strike was unilateral.
It was the 12th strike carried out by the US against the Houthis, who have been attacking commercial shipping routes in the Red Sea. The Houthis, who are allied with Hamas, started to increase their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea in October when Israel began its war in Gaza.
Many shipping companies have rerouted their ships away from the region due to the attacks.
The waterway typically carries more than 10 per cent of global trade.
In December, the US announced the formation of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an international task force aimed at protecting vessels sailing in the Red Sea.
It was the 12th strike carried out by the US against the Houthis, who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea