- Author, George Wright
- Role, BBC News
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A sailor was severely injured after a cargo ship within the Gulf of Aden was struck by two cruise missiles fired by the Houthis in Yemen, the US navy mentioned.
The injured sailor was airlifted to a different ship for medical therapy, the US Central Command (CentCom) reported.
It added that crew members had been preventing a hearth on board the MV Verbena – a Palauan-flagged, Ukrainian-owned, Polish-operated ship.
CentCom later mentioned it had destroyed two Houthi patrol boats, one unmanned floor vessel and one drone over the Red Sea within the final 24 hours.
“It was determined these systems presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region,” CentCom mentioned in an announcement.
The Houthis earlier mentioned that they had carried out assaults on three ships inside the previous 24 hours, together with on the MV Verbena, “in retaliation to the crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip, and in response to the American-British aggression against our country”.
The armed Houthi group sees itself as a part of an Iranian-led “axis of resistance” towards Israel, the US and the broader West.
Since November, the insurgent group has been finishing up assaults on ships they are saying are linked to Israel within the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, saying their actions are in help of the Palestinians in Gaza.
The US and the UK have carried out a sequence of assaults on Houthi targets inside Yemen in response, main the Houthis to retaliate towards ships it believes are linked to these nations.
“The Houthis claim to be acting on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza and yet they are targeting and threatening the lives of third country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza,” CentCom mentioned.
The rebels’ assaults on service provider vessels within the Red Sea prompted many transport firms to cease utilizing the waterway, by means of which about 12% of world seaborne commerce passes.
On Wednesday, the Houthis focused a Liberian-flagged vessel named Tutor utilizing a sea drone within the Red Sea. No casualties had been reported.