Washington carried out a strike against the rebels at dawn on Saturday, the day after a new attack on a commercial ship.
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American forces struck early on a Houthi rebel site in Yemen on Saturday, January 27, after an attack by the latter against a British oil tanker which “caught fire” in the Gulf of Aden. “At approximately 3:45 a.m. local time, the US Middle East Command (Centcom) conducted a strike against a Houthi anti-ship missile that was preparing to be launched into the Red Sea.”specifies a message posted on X, adding that this missile presented a “imminent threat” for American destroyers and merchant ships in the region.
Rebels close to Iran, who are increasing attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, had announced the day before that they had fired “missiles” against a “British oil tanker, the Marlin Luanda“adding that the ship, “hit head-on, caught fire.. France, the United States and India jointly “provided assistance” to the tanker, specifies the French army.
Last night in the Gulf of Aden, a device 🇫🇷🇺🇸🇮🇳 provided assistance to the oil tanker Marlin Luanda 🇲🇭, hit by a missile coming from Yemen.
Maritime security and the safety of human life at sea will always be a priority. https://t.co/XaXtfCyV3F pic.twitter.com/5i1VMXTrGy— French Army – Military Operations (@EtatMajorFR) January 27, 2024
The frigate Alsacethen on patrol a hundred kilometers away, intervened “immediately”followed by the American frigate USS Carney, specifies a press release from the maritime command of the Indian Ocean zone. An Indian frigate, Visakhapatnam , then arrived on the scene. These reinforcements made it possible to provide “large quantities of foam concentrate” in order to fight against the hydrocarbon fire, continues the French maritime command of the area, and the flames were finally brought under control after twenty hours of fighting. The Trafigura group, which operates the Marlin Luanda, declared on Saturday that no casualties had been reported.
Since November, Houthi rebels have fired numerous missiles and drones off the coast of Yemen, saying they target ships linked to Israel in “solidarity” with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, territory bombed and besieged by the Israeli army since the bloody attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7. In response, US forces, sometimes jointly with the UK, have carried out a series of strikes targeting the Houthis in an attempt to deter them from continuing to attack merchant ships, without success so far.