Conflicts & War

Houthis claim attacks on UK freighter, US destroyer and southern Israel

Sana’a, Feb 22 (EFE).- Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels announced on Thursday that they had attacked two ships in the Red Sea, a United States destroyer and a United Kingdom freighter that suffered damage, as well as the southern Israeli coastal city of Eilat, in an escalation of the insurgents’ actions.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that the rebels fired a barrage of naval missiles at the Palau-flagged, British-owned M/V Islander cargo ship, which caught fire.

Both the British Navy and US Central Command (CENTCOM) said earlier that the missile attack caused “minor damage” to the ship, whose crew is safe and continuing to sail to its next port of destination.

On the other hand, Saree stated that “a US destroyer in the Red Sea was attacked with several drones,” without providing further details. However, CENTCOM reported that US forces intercepted six drones that did not cause any damage.

The Houthi spokesman also claimed that “a number of ballistic missiles and drones were launched against several targets of the Zionist enemy” in Eilat, in southern Israel and the target of previous Houthi attacks in recent months, although many of them were intercepted.

Since Nov. 19, the rebels have launched dozens of attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea, claiming they were connected to Israel, as well as against US and British warships stationed in those waters to protect commercial shipping.

Also on Thursday, the leader of the Houthis, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, said in a televised speech that the insurgents had expanded their operational arsenal to include several “underwater weapons” to enable them to continue attacking the Red Sea, a strategic route through which about 15% of the world’s maritime trade passes. EFE

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