Autumn and Winter Check-in Challenge Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a missile strike that hit two cargo ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, a U.S. defense ** said on Friday (December 15), the second consecutive day of reported Houthi missile attacks.
In the first attack on Friday, a missile hit the container ship Al Jasrah, owned by a German company, causing damage and a fire, but no one was injured, the ** said. A few hours later, the second container ship was also hit by a rocket and caught fire. The Associated Press (AP) quoted the same ** as saying that the ship was MSC Palatium of the Mediterranean Shipping Company.
The Associated Press reported that it was unclear whether the second attack had injured the victims.
Later on Friday, Yehia Sareea, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack at a news conference in Sana'a, Yemen's capital. He said that the personnel on both ships refused to respond to calls from Yemeni maritime forces and were subsequently attacked by rockets.
Yemen's Houthi rebels have told all ships heading to all ports in the world except Israeli ports that they will not be harmed, but that "they must keep identification devices open," the spokesman said. ”
Friday's attack follows a recent series of attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea. In recent days, the Houthis have threatened to attack any ship they believe is heading for or leaving Israel, but several of the ships targeted appear to have no connection to Israel.
U.S. adviser Jake Sulivan condemned the attacks while speaking with him in Tel Aviv on Friday. He said the attacks posed a concrete threat to freedom of navigation, commercial navigation and legitimate commerce in a key region, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Sullivan said the United States is working with the international community and partners in the region and elsewhere to address this threat.
The US national security adviser also blamed Iran for the incidents and called on Iranian authorities to stop the attacks. "If the Houthis pull the trigger, it is Iran that hands them the ***, and it is Iran's responsibility to take measures on its own to stop these attacks. ”
Germany's prime minister, Annalena Baerbock, also condemned the attack on Red Sea shipping in Berlin on Friday, in particular on a German-owned vessel. She called on the Houthis to stop their attacks immediately.