Iran-backed Yemeni militia attacks tanker with missile
Strike raises concerns of wider regional conflict
A Yemeni militia backed by Iran struck a commercial vessel with a missile in the Red Sea on Tuesday, US officials said, fanning concerns that the war in the Gaza Strip could balloon into a wider regional conflict.
The Strinda, a Norwegian tanker, caught fire after being hit by a cruise missile launched from a part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi militia, the US military said. While no one was reported injured, it appeared to be one of the first successful strikes on a ship after weeks of threats by the Houthis, who have promised to hit vessels and shut down the waterway in protest of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The Houthis, who have launched several drone and missile attacks on Israeli and US targets in recent weeks, said early Tuesday that they struck the Strinda because it was carrying oil to Israel. But the shipping company that owns the vessel said it was carrying feedstock for biofuel and had been bound for Italy. While the Houthis have said they intend to stop Israeli ships from sailing in the Red Sea, some of its previous targets have had no clear connection to Israel.
The attack underlined concerns that the war in Gaza, now in its third month, could draw in other armed groups that, like Hamas, are adversaries of Israel and supported by Iran. In recent days, Israeli leaders have hinted at escalating the conflict with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah, with Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, warning on Monday that the group’s intensifying cross-border strikes “demand of Israel to remove such a threat.”
Militias supported by Iran have warned of broader attacks against Israel unless it stops its assault in Gaza, which has killed at least 15,000 people, and likely thousands more, according to health authorities in Gaza. Since the conflict began on Oct. 7, when Hamas, which controls Gaza, killed some 1,200 people in Israel, diplomats from the United States, Qatar, and other Middle East countries have worked to limit the fallout from the war, increase humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and negotiate pauses in the fighting.
A weeklong truce, during which hostages held by Hamas were exchanged for Palestinians detained by Israel, ended on Dec. 1, dampening hopes for a longer cease-fire. The resumption of fighting renewed fears that militias tied to Iran would step up their attacks on Israel.
So far, most missiles and drones fired by the Houthis have been intercepted by US naval forces stationed in the area or have fallen off course.
On Monday evening, the Strinda came under fire in “a complex aerial attack from Yemen,” according to a statement from the French Defense Ministry, which said that its Languedoc frigate, which was patrolling the area, intercepted a drone that directly threatened the Norwegian vessel.
The French ship then moved closer to prevent an “attempted hijacking,” the statement said. A US Navy ship, the Mason, responded to the Strinda’s mayday call and was at the scene of the attack rendering aid, the US military said.
The French vessel arrived in the southern Red Sea last week to help patrol a waterway that is vital for global shipping, with more than 20,000 commercial vessels transiting the sea every year. Experts say unrest in the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait — which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and is flanked by Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea — poses a threat to global shipping and supply chains.
“These attacks have the potential to become far more of a global strategic economic threat than simply a regional geopolitical one,” Duncan Potts, a retired vice admiral in Britain’s Royal Navy, said in a statement.