DUBAI – Four suspected attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a Liberian-flagged oil tanker in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said Friday.
The Houthis didn't immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
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Since November, Houthi attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion of goods that flow annually through the region, while also sparking the most intense combat the U.S. Navy has seen since World War II.
After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.”
“The operations are ongoing — our operations toward occupied Palestine to target the Israeli enemy, our operations at sea, the inevitable forthcoming response, as well as coordination with the axis in any joint operations,” warned the Houthi's secretive leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, in a speech Thursday. “The decision to respond is a collective decision, at the level of the entire axis and at the level of each front individually.”
In the first attack, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded close to the oil tanker Delta Blue on Thursday, according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Two smaller craft, with men aboard wearing white and yellow raincoats, launched the RPG, the UKMTO said.
The second attack came early Friday, with a missile “exploding in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “The vessel and crew are reported to be safe.”
The private security firm Ambrey reported that the ship was hit by a drone that caused no injuries or physical damage.
Then came the third attack with the drone boat, where private security guards on board “opened fire and (were) able to successfully destroy the vehicle,” Ambrey said. The UKMTO later reported the incident as well, which happened as the vessel traveled north into the Red Sea.
A fourth attack saw another suspected Houthi missile splash in the water near the vessel, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational organization overseen by the U.S. Navy.
Though the Houthis didn't immediately claim the attacks, it sometimes can take hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. They've also claimed others that apparently haven't happened.
The Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels with missiles and drones in a campaign that has killed four sailors since the start of the war in Gaza in October. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the time since. Other missiles and drones have been either intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or splashed down before reaching their targets.
The rebels maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or the U.K. as part of a campaign they say seeks to force an end to the war. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have launched drones and missiles toward Israel, including an attack on July 19 that killed one person and wounded 10 others in Tel Aviv. Israel responded the next day with airstrikes on the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida that hit fuel depots and electrical stations, killing and wounding a number of people, the rebels say.
After the strikes, the Houthis paused their attacks until Saturday, when they hit a Liberian-flagged container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden.
Meanwhile on Thursday, U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jets arrived in the Middle East from a base in the United Kingdom, authorities said Thursday.
U.S. Central Command posted images online of the fighters, saying their presence in the region was “to address threats posed by Iran and Iranian-backed groups.”
The U.S. has declined to say where the aircraft landed because of host nation sensitivities.
Central Command later said that it destroyed two Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles and one Houthi ground control station, as well as a drone boat in the Red Sea.