On December 31, local time, the Danish-operated, Singapore-flagged container ship Maersk "Hangzhou" was attacked by four Yemeni Houthi small boats in the Red Sea region, and sent two distress signals in less than 24 hours. Subsequently, the U.S. ** command released a message saying that the U.S. military had sent *** to sink 3 of the boats and kill some of the attackers, leaving one dinghy to escape.
According to the New York Times, this is the first time since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October 2023 that the US military cruising in the Red Sea region exchanged fire with Yemen's Houthi rebels and directly killed their personnel.
In this regard, according to a CNN report, John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House committee, responded urgently on the same day, saying that the United States does not seek a broad conflict in the Middle East, nor will it actively seek a conflict with the Houthis, but the United States will continue to act in self-defense.
The best-case scenario is that the Houthis stop these attacks (on merchant ships in the Red Sea)," he said.
Previously, the news given by the US ** Command was that the US military *** originally only wanted to drive away the Houthi fighters who attacked the Maersk "Hangzhou" cargo ship, but they were attacked by the latter, so they fought back "out of self-defense".
Edit: in vain).