WASHINGTON: The Iran-backed Houthi militia launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles at a US-owned tanker ship late on Thursday that hit the water close to the vessel however brought about no accidents or harm, the US army mentioned.
The incident, the most recent amid rising tensions within the Pink Sea which have disrupted world commerce and raised fears of provide bottlenecks, passed off round 9 pm Yemen time (1800 GMT), in keeping with a US Central Command publish on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
The Houthis, who management most of Yemen, earlier on Thursday claimed duty for the assault, saying they focused the ship Chem Ranger with naval missiles that brought about “direct hits”.
Monitoring service TankerTrackers.com mentioned on social media that the “pretty small chemical tanker left the Pink Sea port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Kuwait, however her AIS (computerized identification system) went offline on (Tuesday) earlier than continuing south previous Yemen.”
Assaults by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in and across the Pink Sea for a number of weeks have slowed commerce between Asia and Europe and alarmed main powers in an escalation of the struggle in Gaza.
The Houthis say their assaults are in solidarity with Palestinians below assault from Israel in Gaza.
Since final week, the USA has launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, and this week returned the militia to a listing of “terrorist” teams.
President Joe Biden mentioned on Thursday that air strikes would proceed at the same time as he acknowledged they is probably not halting the Houthi assaults.
“Are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna proceed? Sure,” Biden advised reporters aboard Air Pressure One.
The confrontation dangers an enlargement of the battle past Hamas-governed Gaza, the place the native well being ministry says over 24,000 folks – or greater than 1% of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants – have been killed in Israel’s assault.
Israel launched its offensive following October 7 assaults on by the Palestinian Islamist group, which Israeli officers say killed 1,200 folks.
The incident, the most recent amid rising tensions within the Pink Sea which have disrupted world commerce and raised fears of provide bottlenecks, passed off round 9 pm Yemen time (1800 GMT), in keeping with a US Central Command publish on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
The Houthis, who management most of Yemen, earlier on Thursday claimed duty for the assault, saying they focused the ship Chem Ranger with naval missiles that brought about “direct hits”.
Monitoring service TankerTrackers.com mentioned on social media that the “pretty small chemical tanker left the Pink Sea port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Kuwait, however her AIS (computerized identification system) went offline on (Tuesday) earlier than continuing south previous Yemen.”
Assaults by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in and across the Pink Sea for a number of weeks have slowed commerce between Asia and Europe and alarmed main powers in an escalation of the struggle in Gaza.
The Houthis say their assaults are in solidarity with Palestinians below assault from Israel in Gaza.
Since final week, the USA has launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, and this week returned the militia to a listing of “terrorist” teams.
President Joe Biden mentioned on Thursday that air strikes would proceed at the same time as he acknowledged they is probably not halting the Houthi assaults.
“Are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna proceed? Sure,” Biden advised reporters aboard Air Pressure One.
The confrontation dangers an enlargement of the battle past Hamas-governed Gaza, the place the native well being ministry says over 24,000 folks – or greater than 1% of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants – have been killed in Israel’s assault.
Israel launched its offensive following October 7 assaults on by the Palestinian Islamist group, which Israeli officers say killed 1,200 folks.
