Aden (Al-Ittihad)
A commercial ship is in danger of sinking in the Red Sea, following an attack by the Houthi group in Yemen. The British Maritime Trade Operations Authority said yesterday, “After the crew was evacuated, the ship became pilotless and is currently drifting toward the coast of Djibouti and sinking.” The cargo ship “Verbena,” owned by Ukraine and operated by a Polish company, was sailing on its way to Italy with building materials on board. The attack it was subjected to caused a fire, and initially a seriously injured sailor was evacuated, before its entire crew was evacuated.
According to a statement by the US military command in the Middle East, Centcom, the Houthi group attacked the ship with two cruise missiles last Thursday, causing a fire and seriously wounding one of its crew members.
In a separate statement, Centcom announced, at dawn yesterday, that it had destroyed 7 Houthi radars, a drone, and two unmanned boats, and said, “These radars allow the Houthis to target naval ships, which endangers commercial navigation.” Centcom stated that the radars it destroyed were located in areas controlled by the Houthi group in Yemen, and that two boats and a drone belonging to the group were also destroyed at the same time.
These US strikes come amid an escalation in Houthi attacks. The attacks launched by the Houthis have been repeated since last November on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, causing obstruction of global shipping traffic, and delays and additional costs on supply chains. So far, the Houthis have sunk a ship, seized another ship, and killed three sailors in separate attacks.
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