The Red Sea and its surroundings remain under tension. The American army announced, Wednesday January 31, a series of military operations against the Houthi rebels in Yemen who threaten navigation in the Red Sea.
Around 8:30 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. Paris time), “Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched an anti-ship ballistic missile from areas they control in Yemen towards the Gulf of Aden. The missile was shot down by the USS Carney », announced the American military Command in the Middle East (Centcom) in a press release. Less than an hour later, this same destroyer “downed three Iranian drones” who were located ” near “ from him, Centcom added, without specifying whether these devices were armed or not. And in the evening, Centcom again announced that American strikes had destroyed ten attack drones and a Houthi command post in Yemen, which “posed an imminent threat to U.S. merchant ships and military vessels in the region”.
An American building targeted by the Houthis
Earlier on Wednesday, the US military also said it had destroyed a rebel surface-to-air missile ready to be fired from Yemen. This missile threatened American planes, justified Centcom, which did not specify what type of device could have been targeted by the Houthis.
In recent weeks, these rebels close to Iran who control a large part of Yemen have mainly been talked about for attacks targeting merchant ships or warships in the Red Sea, against the backdrop of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza. They claimed Wednesday to have targeted an American building, the USS Gravely.
Also off the coast of Yemen, the British maritime security company Ambrey reported that a missile fired from Yemen had hit a merchant ship. “According to our information, a merchant ship was targeted by a “missile” while it was crossing (…) off the coast of Aden, Yemen »said Ambrey, adding that “the ship had reported an explosion” on board. “Ambrey learned that this missile had been fired (…) of Taiz »a province in southern Yemen, the firm added.
Thirty-five Houthi attacks on ships
The Houthis have carried out more than 35 attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 19, according to the US Department of Defense. Since November, they have said they have targeted ships linked to Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, deployed warships to the Red Sea and carried out several strikes in January against Houthi positions, sometimes jointly with the United Kingdom. Since then, the Houthis have also considered ships linked to the United States or the United Kingdom as targets.
These attacks from Yemen have a significant impact on international trade, up to 12% of which passes through this essential area. Maritime transport of containers through the Red Sea has fallen by almost 30% over one year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Wednesday. The United States, which placed the Houthis on an entity list “terrorists”, have established an international maritime coalition to ” protect “ international trade in this area.