A picture published earlier by Yemeni media of a British ship sinking in the Red Sea (European)
The British Maritime Trade Operations Authority reported that it had received a report of an explosion near a commercial ship off the southern coast of Yemen, without causing damage or injuries.
The authority run by the British Royal Forces said in a statement that the captain of a commercial ship reported an explosion near his ship, 85 nautical miles east of Aden in southern Yemen.
While no party has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the incident comes within a series of ongoing attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region carried out for months by the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) against the backdrop of the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
On the other hand, the US Central Command said that its forces succeeded in intercepting and destroying a drone, while another likely fell into the Red Sea, as it put it.
The source added that there were no reports of damage or injuries in the vicinity of the incident in the Red Sea.
The US Central Command also indicated that 5 drone boats and a drone were destroyed yesterday, Saturday, in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.
Earlier, media outlets affiliated with Ansar Allah reported that what it described as “the American-British aggression launched 4 raids on the Taif area in the Al-Durayhimi District, south of Hodeidah. These media outlets reported that another raid targeted the Al-Ta’iziyah District in the Taiz Governorate, south of Yemen.”
The promised day's maneuver
These field developments come at a time when units of the Special Forces of the Central Military District of the Ansar Allah group in Yemen carried out a military maneuver under the slogan “The Promised Day Maneuver.”
The maneuver simulated operations to confront enemy forces with the participation of a thousand fighters and included firefights on different terrains.
The Minister of Defense in the Ansar Allah government confirmed that Yemen is capable of wresting its rights and that he will impose new rules of engagement on the Americans, the British and the Israelis, as he described it.
In a related context, the Washington Post quoted informed American officials as saying that the Biden administration is intensifying efforts to monitor and intercept Iranian weapons smuggled into Yemen.
American officials said that Washington is examining ways that partner countries can disrupt Iranian arms smuggling operations.
They added that the Biden administration is seeking to determine the sea routes that Tehran uses to transfer weapons to Yemen.
Since last November 19, the Houthi group has said that it has been targeting ships owned or operated by Israeli companies or transporting goods to and from Israel, in support of the Palestinian resistance in its confrontation with the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. The group has expanded the circle of its attacks to include American and British ships after the start of the raids on Yemen last January.
In response to the attacks, the United States and Britain, along with other countries, launched military operations against the Houthis under the name “Guardian of Prosperity,” and Washington and London say that the air strikes aim to weaken the group’s ability to threaten maritime navigation in the Red Sea.
International shipping companies were forced to stop their operations in the Red Sea or divert their operations to avoid Houthi strikes.
Three days ago, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi vowed to expand the scope of attacks against Israeli ships and ships linked to Israel to “an extent that the enemy does not expect,” and pledged to prevent ships linked to Israel from crossing from the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope.
Source: Al Jazeera + French