A industrial ship was hit and set on fireplace by an anti-ship cruise missile within the southern Purple Sea, an assault U.S. officers say got here from the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.
The Strinda, a Norwegian motor tanker, was hit by “what is assessed to have been an anti-ship cruise missile launched from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen,” the Central Command of the U.S. Division of Protection mentioned.
It represents the newest assault by the Houthi militia on targets in the Red Sea and the broader area throughout greater than two months of warfare between Israel and Hamas, which can be backed by Iran. The Houthis — a insurgent group lengthy enmeshed in a civil warfare in Yemen — has launched a sequence of drone and missile assaults on Israeli and American targets since Hamas killed a minimum of 1,200 folks on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.
The Houthis have mentioned they intend to forestall Israeli ships from crusing within the Purple Sea till Israel stops its assault on Hamas in Gaza. At the least 15,000 folks, and probably hundreds extra, have been killed in Gaza because the begin of the warfare, based on the well being authorities there. It was not instantly clear whether or not the Strinda had any connection to Israel, and a few of the Houthi’s prior targets have had no discernible connection to Israel.
Final week, Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s nationwide safety adviser, mentioned that the USA was in discussions with allies to set up a naval task force to protect ships touring by the Purple Sea.
The vessel was hit at about midnight native time on Tuesday whereas it was passing by the Bab-el-Mandeb, the Central Command said on X. The Bab el-Mandeb is a strait between the Horn of Africa and the Center East that connects the Purple Sea to the Gulf of Aden, which opens into the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Geir Belsnes, the chief govt of Mowinckels Rederi, the transport firm that owns the Strinda, confirmed that the vessel, carrying feedstock for biofuel and certain for Italy, caught fireplace after being hit by a missile.
“Fortunately, there were no injuries to any member of the crew, who managed to extinguish the fire,” he mentioned. The ship, manned by a crew of Indian nationals, was now continuing to a protected port, he mentioned.
No United States vessels had been within the neighborhood throughout the assault, the Central Command mentioned, including {that a} U.S. Navy ship, the usS. Mason, responded to the Strinda’s mayday name and was on the scene of the assault rendering support.
