US condemns Houthis and warns of threat to environment after fertiliser ship sinks
The US military has condemned Yemen’s Houthi rebels over the sinking of the British-owned cargo ship MV Rubymar.
It warned of environmental hazards posed by the vessel’s sinking, echoing concerns voiced by the Yemeni government that the Rubymar’s cargo of hazardous fertiliser puts marine life in danger.
The Rubymar sank in the southern Red Sea in the early hours of Saturday. It is the first vessel to have sunk since the Houthis began its campaign of attacks on commercial ships in November last year.
“The approximately 21,000 metric tonnes of ammonium phosphate sulphate fertiliser that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” the US military said.
“As the ship sinks, it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway. The Iran-backed Houthis pose a heightened threat to global maritime activities.” The area is home to a delicate aquatic ecosystem with coral reefs as far south as Bab Al Mandeb.
“Essentially, a fertiliser spill would cause a rapid nutrient increase, which means it gives a lot of food or nutrition for algae to bloom rapidly, and this will disrupt the balance of marine ecosystems,” Sammy Kayed, an environmental expert who has worked with the UN, told The National last week.
The British-owned ship, which was attacked by the Iran-backed Houthis two weeks ago, sank in the Red Sea, the US military confirmed on Saturday.
Ahmed bin Mubarak, the Prime Minister of Yemen’s internationally recognised Presidential Council, said: “The sinking of the Rubymar is an environmental catastrophe that Yemen and the region have never experienced before.
“It is a new tragedy for our country and our people. Every day we pay the price for the adventures of the Houthi militia.”
The ship was in the Gulf of Aden near Bab Al Mandeb when it was hit by two missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen last month.
The Houthis began their campaign of drone and missile attacks in November, and have hit several commercial ships in the Red Sea and Bab Al Mandeb – a route that accounts for about 12 per cent of the world’s shipping traffic.
The rebels’ assaults have forced several shipping companies to divert their vessels around southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, disrupting global trade by delaying deliveries and sending costs higher.
The Iran-backed militia has vowed to continue its attacks as long as Israel continues its military operation in Gaza.
In a post on social media, senior militia leader Mohammed Al Houthi said the British government “had a chance to recover the Rubymar by allowing aid lorries into Gaza”.
The US and its allies have not been able to deter further Houthi attacks despite forming a naval coalition involving at least seven countries, and carrying out several joint US-British air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The Pentagon said last week that 230 targets had been struck inside Yemen, including Houthi missile launch sites, headquarters and drones. A naval operation is also continuing, with US ships intercepting vessels disguised as civilian ships carrying arms from Iran.
The EU has launched a separate defensive naval mission in the Red Sea, but does not plan to participate in the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Yemeni soil.