A number of small vessels attacked a ship within the Purple Sea close to Yemen’s Al Hudaydah port, inflicting a fireplace on board and prompting the crew to desert ship earlier than the Israel military carried out airstrikes on Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen.
The vessels opened hearth and launched self-propelled grenades on the ship, UK Maritime Commerce Operations stated Sunday stated in a sequence of social posts citing an organization safety officer, with out figuring out the vessel. A passing service provider vessel rescued all crew members, whereas the ship stays deserted.
UKMTO stated earlier that an armed safety crew was returning hearth within the assault some 51 nautical miles southwest of Al Hudaydah, a stronghold of the Iran-backed Houthi militia that has been concentrating on ships within the strategic waterway for over a yr. No group claimed duty for Sunday’s assault.
Later within the day, the Israel Protection Forces carried out airstrikes on Al Hudaydah, Ras Issa and Al-Salif ports on the Purple Sea along with an influence plant in Al Hudaydah. The IDF stated the strikes had been in response to the repeated assaults by the Houthis towards Israel, with the group recurrently firing missiles on the Jewish state.
“The Houthi terrorist regime exploits the maritime area to mission power and conduct terrorist exercise towards passing vessels and international maritime commerce. The targets struck display the regime’s systematic use of civilian infrastructure for terrorist functions,” the IDF stated on Telegram.
The Houthis started attacking business vessels within the Purple Sea after Israel launched a marketing campaign towards Hamas within the Gaza Strip, disrupting international transport routes. These assaults have largely dried up since late 2024 as shippers ship vessels alongside different routes.
After an intense bombing marketing campaign by the US and Israel earlier this yr, the Yemen-based militia reached a ceasefire with Washington. However the group threatened to return to concentrating on US-associated vessels within the Purple Sea following the US determination final month to hitch an offensive by Israel on Iran’s nuclear websites.
The Houthi assaults on ships within the Purple Sea brought about the most important disruption to international commerce for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic, subduing exercise in one of many world’s busiest maritime corridors.
With help from Mohammed Hatem.
This text was generated from an automatic information company feed with out modifications to textual content.
