The rebels Yemen Houthis They released on Wednesday a boat loaded with explosives against a commercial ship in the Red Seaaccording to authorities, despite the campaign led by the United States that tries to protect ships in said waterway.
The use of a boat loaded with explosives raised the specter of the attack against the USS Cole In 2000, a suicide attack by Al Qaeda against the warship when it was in the port of Aden, in which 17 people on board died. Agency journalists AP Cole was spotted in the Red Sea on Wednesday, now participating in the US campaign while visiting one of her sister ships, the USS Laboon.
Yemen’s military spokesman, Brig. Yahya Sareeclaimed responsibility for the attack and identified the attacked vessel as the bulk carrier Tutor, Liberian flag and Greek property. He described the attack as using a “drone boat,” as well as drones and ballistic missiles.
The insurgent spokesperson also claimed “two joint military operations with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance; the first against a vital target in the (Israeli) city of Ashdod with winged missiles, and the other against an important target in the city of Haifa with several drones.”
“Both operations achieved their objectives successfully,” he said.
The British agency Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the ship had been hit on its stern by a small white boat southwest of the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeida.
The captain “reports that the vessel is taking on water, and is not under the command of the crew,” the UKMTO said. She added that the captain reported that “The ship has been hit for the second time by an unknown aerial projectile.”
The Houthis, who took Yemen’s capital almost a decade ago and have been fighting a coalition led by Saudi Arabia Since shortly after, they have been attacking shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor because of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They claim the attacks are aimed at stopping the war and supporting the Palestinians.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks against navigation, have killed three sailors, seized one ship and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration. A US-led campaign has bombed Houthi targets in Yemen since January, and a series of attacks on May 30 killed at least 16 people and wounded 42 others, according to Yemeni fighters.
The journalists of AP traveling with the US Navy were interviewing the commander Eric Blomberg, commanding officer of the destroyer Laboon, when the attack alert was received. Blomberg received several calls from sailors aboard the ship informing him of the apparent attack. The Laboon is one of the destroyers that accompany the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and both have intercepted Houthi fire and escorted ships through the region.
Although he and others stressed at the time that they were still investigating the attack, he said it appeared that The attacked ship had nothing to do with the war.
The Houthis “attack ships that are not at all associated or linked to the United States or Israel,” Blomberg said. “They are just innocent merchant sailors transporting goods across the Red Sea, trying to do it by the least expensive route, and they are paying for it.”
(With information from AP and EFE)
