Red Sea: missiles against Houthi tankers and speedboats attacking civilian traffic
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels fired two missiles from territory they hold in Yemen on Wednesday, hitting – but missing – a commercial tanker near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that was carrying jet fuel from India and was headed for the Suez Canal through the Red Sea, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.
The Ardmore Encounter tanker had departed Mangalore, India, and was traveling north toward the Suez Canal in the Red Sea, according to satellite data analyzed by the AP.
The ship had an armed security crew on board, according to data transmitted from the vessel. They also exchanged gunfire with the crew of armed boats that had attacked the ship.
In a statement to the AP, Ardmore Shipping Corp , which owns and operates the tanker Ardmore Encounter, said “no one has boarded the vessel and all crew members are safe.”
“The vessel remains fully operational with no cargo loss or damage on board,” the vessel operator added.
Houthi attacks on commercial ships around oil flow hotspots in the Middle East have intensified in recent days.
A ship in the Red Sea was hit by a missile fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen on Tuesday, a day after the Houthis said they would target any ship heading to Israel.
The information comes from two unnamed US officials who spoke to War Zone. According to the report, the target was a commercial vessel named M/T Strinda and was attacked approximately 60 miles from the Bab el-Mandeb choke point.
The news comes a day after the Houthis said they considered any ship heading to Israel a legitimate target.
Separately, Britain's Office of Maritime Commercial Operations issued a warning to all commercial vessels in the Red Sea on Tuesday, saying that "an 'Unknown Entity' claiming to be the Yemeni Navy has, via radio frequencies, ordered to a ship near the Strait to divert its course towards the ports of Yemen”.
However, the Gulf of Aden is now becoming a war zone with the activity of real Houthi pirates who are making transit in the area extremely dangerous
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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/mar-rosso-missili-contro-nave-cisterna-e-motoscafi-houthi-all-assalto/ on Wed, 13 Dec 2023 17:27:10 +0000.