Ship bound to India attacked by Houthis in Red Sea

Iran-backed Houthis have confirmed that they fired missiles at two ships, one of them bound for India, in the Red Sea early on Tuesday. This is the latest in the string of attacks launched by the Yemeni rebel group since Israel launched a war against Gaza in October last year.

Houthis’ drone and missile action in the Red Sea has disrupted the movement of commercial vessels, affecting international trade and forcing many ships to change routes.

European and American ships attacked

According to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, one of its ships named ‘The Morning Tide’, suffered ‘slight damages’ when it was attacked in the southern part of the Red Sea.

The vessel was on its way to Barbados, private security firm Ambrey said in a statement. No one on board, however, has been hurt. The attack damaged the vessel’s windows on the bridge.

The other ship, a Greek-owned Star Nisa was damaged by an explosion at 1115 GMT, a Greek shipping ministry official said, adding that its crew were not injured. The ship was coming from the US and headed to India.

Following the attacks, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson of the Houthi group claimed responsibility for the strikes. However, he provided no evidence to back the claim.

 US and Britain strike back

Ever since Houthi launched its offensive in the Red Sea, both the US and the UK, backed by allies, have begun counterstrikes in the region.

The US and Britain struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday. An air assault Friday in Iraq and Syria targeted other Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan.

First Post with inputs from agencies