Illustrative image.
A Houthi drone boat packed with explosives got within a “couple of miles” of United States Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating on January 4, just hours after the White House and 12 allied nations issued a final warning to the Yemeni group to cease the attacks against shipping.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, are a part of the so-called Axis of Resistance that is backed by Iran and opposes Israel.
The group has fired several missiles and drones at the southernmost Israeli city of Eilat since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip. It also assaulted a number of Israeli-related ships and announced a blockade on all ships heading to Israel.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said that it was the first time the Houthis had used an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) since their “harassment” of commercial ships in the Red Sea began.
The USV traveled from Yemen into international shipping lanes “clearly with the intent to do harm” before detonating, Cooper added.
It wasn’t clear if a specific ship was targeted, and the USV exploded without causing damage to any ships or injuring any crews.
This was the 25th Houthi attack on ships in the Red Sea since November 18th, Cooper said, noting that the attacks are almost certain to continue.
“There are no signs their irresponsible behavior is abating,” Cooper told reporters in a briefing Thursday morning.
Last month, the U.S. deployed an aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, near Yemen and launched Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect movement in the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes.
Cooper said the coalition now consists of 22 countries and is expected to grow. Since the start of the operation, 19 drones and missiles launched from Houthi territory have been shot down and three small boats of the Houthis have been sunk, according to the commander.
Ten Houthi fighters were killed in the attack on the boats, which was carried out by U.S. Navy helicopters. The group vowed to respond.
In a final warning issued earlier this week, the U.S. and its allies said that Houthis will face “consequences” unless they stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. Any attack by the coalition is guaranteed to provoke a response from the Houthis, who possess advanced offensive capabilities that are not limited to USVs.
the fun loving houthis only have to find the ussan tranny rusty tub one time to get the job done. the pentaconners have to find all the houthi boats every time to keep their trannys warm and snug in their rusty tubs because we all know that no $lumvillains will dare step on to houthi ground after the a$$ kicking the saudis have been getting for 8 years. ussa still imagines its fighting japs almost a century ago. how cute.
“the ussan tranny rusty tub”
i thought it was decommissioned due the entire crew suffering severe gender identity disorder.
why the boat explode to erly? they lost a good message to the yankees.
single houti boat would never pass through us defences, it was more or less response to the us “throwing down the gauntlet”
maybe it’s a fail safe? if the boat runs out of fuel before encountering a target, it would just float about until it made shore again or hit something else.
boat went n dun sploded erly cuz u wernt on board, kamikaze champ…
the 22 countries opposing the houthies in that fashion support the genocide of the palestinians making each of them racist ,hypocritical co-conspirators in the murders of women and children.
these countries couldn’t care less about palestinian’s. that is very clear from the history of their involvement over the past 100 years. these countries couldn’t care less about jewish people either as they were all very keen to see them all disappear to isreal after the abomination was created.
most of them are in jewish and fremassons hands aka the “globalists”
to hell with jew usa.
the us have over-stretched themselves and are not in a position to do much more than they are doing. when these 22 prosperity guardian dreamers begin to see their own shipping being targeted, they may wish they hadn’t bothered. the houthis could end all shipping through the strait which will equate to changes of political leadership in the west. there’s nothing quite like a crashing economy and wide spread depression to focus the mind. a crashing economy will slaughter a lot of nato cash cows.
that was dumb.
how? why do cope so much… do you see how mad they are right now? shipping delays & freight cost increases 2024.
communist party of yemen = houthis
another yaqui that fail school and history class, classic just classic. south yemen developed as a marxist–leninist, mostly secular society ruled first by the national liberation front, which later morphed into the ruling yemeni socialist party.
i’m 100% sure he doesn’t know the different between north and south. for you stupid ass, houthis are north-yemen and fighting south/ksa+us+uae+israel dogs.
don’t try to teach an americancunt, is useless, they forget all after watching just one video from tiktock
dúfam, že to bola skúška a zároveň aj varovanie. čas ukáže.
it was a warning from the amazing houthis!!!! message: next time youse’ll be sleeping with the fishes!!!
irresponsible behavior! how about being complicit in genocide in gaza with the zionist jews.