Yemen airstrikes newest: Fresh missile attack on Red Sea ship reported after Houthis vow revenge

Houthi militants mistakenly focused a tanker carrying Russian oil in a missile attack on Friday night off Yemen, a British maritime safety agency has mentioned.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation mentioned it had obtained a report of a missile being fired 90 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s port metropolis of Aden.

“The master reported a missile landing in the water 400-500 metres away, and being followed by three small craft,” the UKMTO advisory notice mentioned, including that there have been no accidents or harm.

Maritime safety consultants Ambrey mentioned: “This was the second tanker mistakenly targeted by the Houthis whilst carrying Russian oil.”

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants, who management a lot of Yemen, have launched wave after wave of exploding drones and missiles at Western industrial vessels within the Red Sea since mid-November.

Lord West, the previous Royal Navy chief, backed the navy motion – however mentioned Mr Sunak must be ready to strike once more if crucial.

The peer informed The Independent: “What do we do if they [the Houthis] do the next attacks? Do we up the ante? That’s the next difficult decision. If they keep acting innocent merchant ships and our warships, then I think we will have to do something.”

Lord West, chief of UK naval workers from 2002 to 2006, performed down the probabilities of a wider escalation with Iran.

“One of the reasons the Iranians boarded that oil tanker off Oman was because we had done nothing to the Houthis,” he mentioned.

“I think the strikes will make Iran think, ‘Oh hang on – they do take it seriously’.

“I don’t believe it will escalate,” he added. “Opinion in the Arab street might be unfavourable. But there are terrorist groups who spend their time trying to kill us anyway, so it won’t change the threat picture that much.”

The Houthis are a part of what Tehran labels an “axis of resistance” – which incorporates Hamas and Hezbollah from Lebanon – in opposition to Israel, the US and the broader West. All it’s good to find out about what’s occurring and why:

Former British Army chief Richard Dannatt backed Rishi Sunak’s “necessary” motion in opposition to the Houthis, and mentioned strain needs to be put on Iran.

“If it wants to prevent escalation into the Red Sea, it’s up to Iran to rein back the Houthis,” he informed the BBC.

Lord Dannatt mentioned the UN Security Council’s everlasting members – together with China, France and Russia – had a duty to “take action to protect world interests”, including: “The fragility of world chain supplies are being exposed in the Red Sea.”

Former Tory Middle East minister Alistair Burt has instructed that some teams within the Middle East will accuse the UK and US of attempting to escalate battle within the area together with Israel.

“We say we have dealt with the threat to shipping in the Red Sea, and that is correct. But that does not mean other people will believe us and will not have their own narrative. The Houthis will certainly link it to Israel and what’s happening in Gaza,” he informed Sky News.

Mr Burt mentioned it was “quite separate issue in my mind”, however he added: “So quite separately, the UK and US should now make very clear to Israel that its ground offensive in Gaza has got to come to an end.”

A senior US navy spokesperson has mentioned they don’t count on a excessive variety of casualties provided that missile launchers had been positioned in rural areas.

The UK and the US hit just below 30 areas in Yemen, and expect Houthi rebels to make some try and retaliate.

A pessimistic risk is that the conflict within the Red Sea and for Yemen – a pitifully poor, damaged nation – now escalates, unpredictably, right into a proxy conflict between the West and Israel versus Iran and its allies, writes Sean O’Grady:

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) group obtained a number of studies on Friday of small boats approaching a service provider ship 80 nautical miles (148 kilometers) southeast of the Yemeni port metropolis of Aden.

“Two small boats are reported to have followed a merchant vessel for over one hour,” the advisory notice mentioned, including the vessel reported that no weapons had been sighted.

An incident had been reported earlier on Friday round 90 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s port of Aden. UKMTO mentioned authorities had been investigating.

The United States doesn’t need conflict with Yemen however won’t hesitate to take additional motion in response to Houthi assaults within the Red Sea, the White House has mentioned.

“We’re not interested in … a war with Yemen. We’re not interested in a conflict of any kind here,” White House spokesperson John Kirby informed reporters on Air Force One.

“Everything the president has been doing has been trying to prevent any escalation of conflict, including the strikes last night,” he mentioned.

The US navy says 60 strikes had been launched in opposition to 16 websites linked to the Houthis’ navy operations. The Independent appears to be like at how the assaults unfolded and which weapons had been used: