Three crew members of a merchant ship were killed Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden according to the US military, in the first deadly attack by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen.
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On Thursday, the Indian Navy published images on the social network X of the rescue operation in which 21 crew members, including an Indian national, were rescued and evacuated to Djibouti.
Yemeni rebels, close to Iran, have increased attacks in recent months in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, major maritime passages for world trade. They claim to be acting in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas entered its fifth month on Thursday, and are targeting ships they consider linked to Israel or its allies, notably the United States.
The US Middle East Command (Centcom) reported an anti-ship ballistic missile launched Wednesday from Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen towards the True Confidence, a Barbados-flagged bulk carrier controlled by Liberian interests.
“The missile hit the ship and the crew reported three deaths, at least four injuries, three of whom are in critical condition, and significant damage,” Centcom added.
The Philippine government said for its part that two of its nationals had been killed in the attack and two others “seriously injured”.
In a statement on social media, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the “True Confidence” had been hit by “missiles” after “the crew rejected warning messages.”
Maritime security agencies had reported earlier that an attack had targeted and damaged this bulk carrier off the coast of Aden, south of Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, at war for almost a decade. The UKMTO agency, run by the British navy, specified that the crew had to abandon the ship.
“Today, the Houthis killed innocent civilians,” lamented an American official, who requested anonymity.
In a message on X, British Foreign Minister David Cameron said he was “appalled” by this attack.
“Accountable”
According to the UKMTO, the commercial vessel had been contacted by “an entity posing as the Yemeni navy ordering it to change course.”
British maritime security company Ambrey said the bulk carrier belonged to an American company. But the American official assured for his part that it was linked to Liberia.
The United States set up a multinational maritime force in December to protect merchant ships against these attacks, and carried out strikes, sometimes with the help of the United Kingdom, against rebel positions in Yemen.
After Wednesday’s deadly attack, a spokesperson for American diplomacy said that Washington would continue to demand that the Houthis “be held accountable.”
The actions of these rebels, who control entire parts of Yemen, have forced many shipowners to suspend passage through these important shipping routes.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), maritime transport of containers through the Red Sea fell by almost 30% year-on-year. Before the war, between 12 and 15% of global traffic passed through this axis, according to the European Union.
On Wednesday evening, US forces destroyed two aerial drones “in an area under Houthi control”, which “represented an imminent threat to merchant ships and US Navy vessels”, according to Centcom.
The US command said earlier that the Houthis had fired five anti-ship ballistic missiles off the coast of Yemen over the past two days, two of which hit their targets, the True Providence and the MSC Sky II, while another was shot down.
In February, these Yemeni insurgents attacked a ship loaded with chemical fertilizers which sank and now risks causing significant environmental damage in the Red Sea.