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A US Navy fighter jet takes off on a night-time mission against the Houthi militias

Photo: Mc2 Jorge Lebaron; US Navy / dpa

The Houthis' attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea continue. Two freighters were attacked and damaged, the militia said in a statement. The first is the US cargo ship “Star Nasia” and the second is the British ship “Morning Tide”.

The information corresponds to information from the British security company Ambrey. She announced that a British cargo ship was attacked with a drone off the coast of Yemen, which is largely controlled by the Houthis. According to the crew, the ship was 57 nautical miles west of Hodeidah when it was attacked on the port side. A small boat was also spotted on the port side. The projectile flew across the deck and damaged the bridge's windows. Nobody got hurt.

According to Ambrey, after several evasive maneuvers, the cargo ship continued towards the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

US military attacks two Houthis explosive boats

The US armed forces had previously said that they had fired on two remotely controlled boats belonging to the Houthi militias in the region that were loaded with explosives. The two “explosive unmanned watercraft” posed an “acute threat to US Navy ships and merchant ships in the region,” said the US Central Command, the US regional command responsible for the Middle East, on Monday. The attack on the two drone ships was therefore carried out “in self-defense”.

In recent weeks, the US has bombed – alone or together with Britain – a number of positions belonging to the Iran-backed Houthis. Washington and London are responding to the militia's series of attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis see themselves as part of the self-proclaimed “Axis of Resistance” directed against Israel, to which the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip also belongs. The militia says it is targeting ships with a connection to Israel. The attacks are having a huge impact on shipping in the Red Sea, a very important international trade route.

aka/AFP