American forces launched a military operation in the Red Sea to confront Houthi attacks (Reuters)

Two American officials spoke - today, Wednesday - about the Houthi group's operations in the Red Sea, with one of them admitting that they were taking place suddenly, while the other said that they had caused great damage to the American ship True Confidence "and killed civilians."

On Wednesday, CNN quoted an American official as saying that the Houthi group in Yemen is surprising American forces with its operations in the Red Sea.

The official's statements said, "The Houthis continue to surprise us, and we do not have a good idea of ​​what weapons they have."

This statement coincided with the announcement by the military spokesman for the Ansar Allah Houthi group, Yahya Saree, that a missile attack had been carried out on the American ship “True Confidence” in the Gulf of Aden with naval missiles, indicating that the hit was accurate.

In this context, an American official told Al Jazeera that the Houthis launched a ballistic missile today at the ship "True Confidence."

He explained that the missile caused significant damage to the ship, which was flying the "Barbados" flag, while it was crossing the Gulf of Aden.

"Today, the Houthis killed innocent civilians through continued brutal measures," he said.

He added that the Houthis launched 5 anti-ship ballistic missiles in the past two days.

He called on world governments to join the United States "to stop the Houthis' heinous attacks."

Targeting ships

Since the beginning of last December, the Houthis have claimed to target more than 20 ships in the areas of the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, using missiles and drones, as part of their measures to prevent the passage of Israeli ships or those heading to Israeli ports, in support of Gaza, which has been subjected to Israeli aggression since October 7. First past.

On February 19, the first British ship sank in the Red Sea after being targeted by a Houthi missile attack and remaining aground for 13 days off the Yemeni coast.

Since the beginning of 2024, the US-led “Guardian of Prosperity” coalition has launched raids that it says target Houthi sites in various regions of Yemen, in response to their attacks in the Red Sea, which has been met with a response from this group from time to time.

Over the past weeks, the city of Hodeidah and other areas in Yemen have been subjected to a large number of American-British raids, in an attempt to limit the capabilities of the Houthis.

With the intervention of Washington and London and the tensions taking a noticeable escalation last January, the Houthi group announced that it now considered all American and British ships among its military targets.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies