US Targets Houthis in the Red Sea
Noriko Watanabe and Kanako Mita
Modern Tokyo Times
The United States killed several Houthi forces after they attacked a merchant vessel in the Red Sea. Accordingly, all eyes are on the Houthi response and if the situation will spiral.
Navy helicopters of America sank three Houthi boats involved in the attack. Hence, the USS Eisenhower and the USS Gravely are on full alert concerning the heightened tensions.
Voice of America reports, “Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely, responding to distress calls from the Maersk Hangzhou, returned fire on the Houthi boats and sank three of the vessels. There were no survivors. The fourth boat fled the area.”
The United Kingdom pointed the finger at Iran. Accordingly, David Cameron (British Foreign Secretary) said, “I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks, given their long-standing support to the Houthis.”
AP News reports, “Years of bloody, inconclusive fighting against the Saudi-led coalition settled into a stalemated proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, causing widespread hunger and misery in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country. The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.”
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) reports, “Today there were four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea… We have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran.”
The BBC says, “To reach the Suez Canal in Egypt – which connects to the Mediterranean Sea – ships must pass through the tiny Bab al-Mandab Strait, just off the coast of Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.”
The action of the Houthis concerns the ongoing crisis in Gaza. Accordingly, they hope to put pressure on the international community to pressure Israel.
The crisis needs immediate de-escalation.
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