Yemen Houthis damage cargo ship in Gulf of Aden as it steps up attacks, say they ‘will not stop’ unless siege of Palestinian people is lifted
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed to have hit a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden overnight with two missiles.
- The Israeli military is investigating an earlier explosion in Tel Aviv, caused by an apparent drone attack that did not trigger air-raid sirens.
- What’s next? Yemeni Houthi militants said the operations of the Armed Forces would continue to escalate unless a siege imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip was lifted.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed to have hit and damaged a Singapore-flagged container ship with two missiles, as they escalate attacks on global shipping over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The overnight assault on the Lobivia cargo ship came as the Iran-aligned Houthis also claimed responsibility for a long-range aerial drone strike in central Tel Aviv, hours after an explosion near the US consulate, that killed one man and wounded four others.
Military spokesman of Yemen’s Houthi militants Yahya Sare’e in a television speech said the group launched the Lobivia strikes on Friday local time, adding the assault also included drones.
“The naval, the missile, and the unmanned air forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of Allah Almighty, carried out a specific and joint military operation in the Gulf of Aden, targeting the ship (Lobivia) with a number of ballistic missiles and drones,” they said.
The manager of Lobivia did not immediately comment.
Lobivia was in the Gulf of Aden when the missiles struck two areas on its port side, the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) said in an incident report.
The ship was located 83 nautical miles south-east of Yemen’s port city of Aden during the attack.
“The ship was transiting north-east along the Gulf of Aden when a merchant vessel in the vicinity observed ‘light and blast’ where the ship was located,” British security firm Ambrey said.
The Houthis in recent weeks have become more adept at inflicting damage on their targets.
In June, the militants struck the Greek-owned Tutor coal carrier with missiles and an explosive-laden remote-controlled boat, causing it to sink.
Tutor was the second ship sunk in the Houthi campaign against commercial shipping, which since November has killed at least three sailors and up-ended global trade by forcing ship owners to avoid the Suez Canal trade shortcut.
“Their capacity, their access to more sophisticated weapons, has only increased over the course of this conflict,” said Gerald Feierstein, director of the Arabian Peninsula Affairs Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Militant spokesperson Mr Sare’e said the “continuation of the Israeli aggression” will “only push the Yemeni people and their Armed Forces”.
“The operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of Allah Almighty, will not stop unless the aggression is stopped and the siege imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip is lifted,” Mr Sare’e said during his speech.
Mr Sare’e said the Tel Aviv operation was carried out with a new drone called ‘Yafa’ which is “capable of bypassing the enemy’s interception systems and undetectable by radars”.
The White House condemned the strike in Tel Aviv and expressed sympathy for the victims.
“[The strike] appears to be the latest in the Houthis’ reckless and destabilising actions,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement on Friday, local time.
Article link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-20/yemen-houthis-target-cargo-ship-steps-up-attacks/104121382Article source: ABC / Reuters | 20 July 2024
6261