AL-MUKALLA: Two seafarers have been killed in a Houthi missile attack on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden, British and United States officials said, the first fatalities reported since the Iran-aligned Yemeni group began attacks against shipping in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes over Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday, which set the Greek-owned, Barbados-flagged ship True Confidence ablaze approximately 50 nautical miles (93km) off the coast of Yemen’s port of Aden.
In a statement on X directly responding to the Houthi claim, the United Kingdom’s embassy wrote, “At least 2 innocent sailors have died. This was the sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping. They must stop.”
“Our deepest condolences are with the families of those that have died and those that were wounded.”
Two US officials, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as they didn’t have authorisation to speak publicly, said that the antiship ballistic missile attack killed two of the crew members on board and wounded six others.
Earlier on Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said the vessel was no longer under the command of the crew and they had abandoned it.
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, it typically takes Houthi forces several hours to acknowledge their assaults and Yemen’s Houthis eventually said they had targeted the cargo ship with missiles, causing a fire to break out on board.
“The targeting operation came after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages from the Yemeni naval forces,” the militia’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.
Houthi fighters in Yemen have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and in opposition to Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to reroute to longer and more expensive journeys around Southern Africa.
The True Confidence is owned by the Liberian-registered company True Confidence Shipping and operated by the Greece-based Third January Maritime, both firms said in their joint statement. They said the ship had no link to the US.
However, it had previously been owned by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based fund that finances vessels on instalments.
Despite more than a month and a half of US-led air raids on the Houthis, the group has remained capable of launching significant attacks.
Those attacks have included last month’s attack on a cargo ship carrying fertiliser, the Rubymar, which sank on Saturday after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
A Houthi assault on Tuesday apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the US campaign against the rebels.
The attack on the Carney involved bomb-carrying drones and one antitank ballistic missile, the US military’s Central Command said.
The US later launched an air raid destroying three antiship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, Central Command said.
Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, acknowledged the attack but said its forces targeted two US warships, without elaborating.
The Houthis “will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted”, Saree said.
Courtesy: aljazeera
