Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis said they were responsible for a missile attack on a UK-owned cargo ship and for the drone strike on a U.S. destroyer on Thursday. They targeted Israel’s resort city and port of Eilat with missiles and drones.
The statement by a Houthi official, posted on Y site, media, took place immediately after the group’s leader declared that they were intensifying their attacks against ships in the Red Sea and the other waters, including those conducted using “submarine weapons”, in the parallel to Israel “s military operations in the Shift region..
In support of struggling Palestinian civilians, Houthi militants have been the initiators of periodic drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden since November as the war between Israel and Hamas continues with the most recent death toll hitting 30,000 civilians in Gaza.
“The Humanitarian Operations Center was established in Sanaa to supervise expedited transfers for ships and vessels with no links to Israel,” said a senior Houthi official to Reuters on Thursday.
RISK PRICED IN
The attacks are making the routes to navigation unstable and raising global shipping prices. Yesterday, insurance sources said that the marine underwriters had already restricted the coverage availability or increase the rates, but the rates did’t change today because of the advisories.
Neither availability nor pricing will be affected significantly in the marine war insurance owing to Houthi group announcement as this echoes previous similar statement from last year have aimed vessels of Israel, the U.S. and the UK.” Marcos Alvarez, managing director, global insurance ratings, Morningstar DBRS, told Reuters.
Al-Houthi, the leader in the “retaliation assaults” warned the U.S.-British coalition that its strikes cannot stop their campaign.
Earlier on Thursday, two missiles struck the vessel at a distance of about 85 km south of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, as confirmed by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The vessel and the crew are now reported to be safe and its onward journey to the next port of call has been confirmed, it said in an updated statement.
GB-registered Islander, an EU-flagged vessel headed for Egypt from Thailand, was carrying illegal migrants, according to tracking data and Ambrey, an English maritime security company.
The US Central Command announced in a social networking tweet that the US forces shot down six Houthi drones in the Red Sea after these flying objects were identified as an imminent threat to US and allied warships.
None of the ships nor the crews were sunken nor killed so far during the Houthi campaign. Nevertheless, UK-flag Rubymar cargo vessel is to be seized by government as at Feb. 18 the ship was damaged by an accident and her crew evacuated.
The Houthis reported it was in danger of sinking but the official from the US defense refuted the claim saying it is above water.
According to Ambrey, Roselink is now “standing lower” in the water. The attempt to salvage was abandoned, and the same came into effect. Information regarding the navigation of nearby vessels was in place, the firm said. Other options are being mulled over, the ship’s Security company ISS-SAPU announced.
Also on Thursday, the Israeli military reported that it destroyed a target (presumably a terror installation) deep inside the Red Sea after sirens which warned of incoming rockets and missiles went off again in Eilat, a southern city.
“Ironically, the operations are not limited to the Red and Arabian Seas, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden but they go beyond, are intensified, and achieve their objectives,” al-Houthi said in a televised speech. He reserved no reference to the submarine weapons.
