United States naval forces reported on Tuesday (16) that they sank a “dhow” – a traditional Arab sailing ship – without a flag that was illegally transporting “lethal aid” from Iran to resupply Yemen’s Houthi rebels during a mission in the Arabian Sea, in which two American Marines went missing.
“On January 11, 2024, while conducting a flag check, U.S. CENTCOM naval forces seized a dhow illegally carrying advanced lethal aid from Iran to resupply Houthi forces in Yemen as part of the campaign of attacks (by Shia rebels ) against international maritime navigation,” said a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM).
“This is the first seizure of lethal advanced conventional weapons supplied by Iran to the Houthis since the start of Yemeni militia attacks on merchant ships in November 2023,” CENTCOM further said, noting that it is also “the first seizure of advanced components of Iranian-made ballistic missiles and cruise missiles by the US Navy since November 2019.”
The operation was conducted by Navy SEALs, an elite corps of the US Armed Forces, supported by helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, who approached the sailboat near the coast of Somalia in international waters of the Arabian Sea. Two US Marines went missing during the approach. “We are conducting an exhaustive search for our missing colleagues,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM, said in the statement.
“(The dhow) was deemed unsafe and sunk by US Navy forces. The fate of the 14 dhow crew is being determined in accordance with international law,” the statement added, without giving further details.
So far, there has been no reaction from Iran and the Houthis to this information. “It is clear that Iran continues to send advanced lethal aid to the Houthis. This is yet another example of how the Persian country is actively sowing instability across the region,” Kurilla said.
The seized items include “propulsion, guidance and warheads for medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) and anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM), as well as associated anti-aircraft defense components.”
Initial analyzes indicate that these same weapons were “used by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent sailors on international merchant ships transiting the Red Sea,” according to CENTCOM. (With EFE Agency)
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