On the evening of February 1, Yahya Saria, a spokesman for Yemen's Houthi military command, solemnly announced that Yemen's Houthi navy had launched a heroic operation in the Red Sea - an attack on a British merchant ship. The merchant ship was heading to an occupied Palestinian port.
According to Yahya, this attack by the Houthis was carried out by anti-ship missiles.
The U.S. Command (CENTCOM) also confirmed the attack, but the U.S. Command said the victim was the Liberian-flagged USS Koi as it was heading to Bermuda.
The U.S. military said that despite missile strikes on merchant ships from Houthi-controlled areas, both missiles failed to hit their targets and instead fell into the sea.
The Houthi blockade of the Red Sea shipping lanes was aimed at preventing the passage of ships associated with Israel, and subsequently US and British merchant ships were targeted by the US-UK coalition escort and the attack on Yemen. The Houthi attack on a British merchant ship heading for Israel can be described as a "killing two birds with one stone" operation.
In fact, relations between Yemen's Houthis and Israel have been tense. Since the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen, a bloody war has been waged between the Houthis and the ** army backed by Saudi Arabia and other countries. Israel, on the other hand, sided with the ** army and launched a number of airstrikes against the Houthis. This has also made the Houthis hostile to Israel and have resorted to various means to express their dissatisfaction and resistance.
The missile attack on a British merchant ship has undoubtedly exacerbated the complexity of the situation in Yemen. It has not only made the United Kingdom and other Western countries more concerned about the situation in Yemen, but also aroused the international community's concern about the security situation in the Middle East. At the same time, it also reminds us that in the face of global security issues, we need to pay more attention to and think about the development and impact of the regional security situation.
In the days to come, we hope that the situation in Yemen will be properly resolved and that all parties will be able to resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation and achieve peace and stability. At the same time, we also hope that the international community can strengthen cooperation and jointly safeguard regional and world peace and security.