Houthi missile targets US-owned cargo ship off the coast of Yemen

Middle East, News, US January 17, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

A ballistic missile fired by the Houthi rebels stuck a U.S.-owned cargo ship off the coast of Yemen on January 15, 2024. The missile strike added to the already heightened tensions in the region as the U.S. and the UK forces conducted extensive military strikes against Houthi rebels.

The missile targeted the U.S.-owned and Marshall Islands-flagged commercial vessel named Gibraltar Eagle. No casualties, injuries, or significant damage was reported following the attack according to the United States military command for the Middle East (CENTCOM). The ship continued its journey in the Gulf of Aden.

The shipping company Eagle Bulk Shipping reported that the ship was carrying steel product and it was about 160 kilometers off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden as the missile strike was carried out. It said the vessel “suffered limited damage to a cargo hold but is stable and is heading out of the area.”

Hours earlier, the CENTCOM announced that another ballistic missile was fired by the Houthis aimed at a U.S. destroyer deployed in the Red Sea area. The missile was intercepted and shot down by a U.S. fighter jet.

The chief negotiator and spokesperson of the Iranian-backed Houthi group, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said that the group’s position had not changed after the U.S.-led strikes, and indicated that strikes would target the ships heading to Israel.

Abdulsalam said “Our position on the events in Palestine and the aggression against Gaza has not changed and would not change, neither after the strike nor after the threats. “The attacks to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine are continuing,” he added.

*^{Gibraltar Eagle commercial vessel. (Image Credit: YouTube/via TheDrive)}*

Several shipping companies and countries have halted their maritime operations in the Red Sea following the worsening security situation in the region. The maritime traffic in the Red Sea area has dropped significantly following the U.S. and the UK joint military attack. Qatar became the latest major user of container ships to announce it will not send liquid gas through the Red Sea for the foreseeable future.

Attacks on Houthi rebels

Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom launched a series of airstrikes and missile attacks against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The massive attacks were conducted using naval warships, fighter jets, and submarines as a retaliatory move against the Houthis for their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea, including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

The UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said the attacks on the Houthi’s sites were intended as “a single limited action” rather than a continuing series of attacks or operations.

Another successful Houthi attack on a commercial ship has raised questions about the U.S. and the UK’s ability to prevent such incidents despite using extensive military resources and orchestrating attacks on Houthi sites in Yemen.