A crew aboard a cargo ship in the Red Sea has abandoned the vessel after Houthi rebels struck it with missiles. The attacks on Red Sea shipping from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis are continuing to escalate. These recent missile strikes took place overnight forcing the crew to evacuate.
Bloomberg reported that the missiles hit the engine room of “Rubymar,” a Belize-flagged cargo ship sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi Rebels Continue Attacks In Red Sea
The United States’s retaliatory strikes have done nothing to slow the attacks from the Houthis in the Red Sea. This attack, however, appears to be one of the most severe since the terrorist group vowed to strike ships during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Rubymar reported severe damage after “an explosion in close proximity to the vessel,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center reported. “Military authorities report crew have abandoned the vessel,” UKMTO said, adding, “Vessel at anchor and all crew are safe.”
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 033 19 FEB 24
ATTACK – UPDATE 002https://t.co/zHGNgQp1UB#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/j2qqL87yno
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) February 19, 2024
This is the first instance the crew of a commercial vessel has been forced to evacuate due to damage sustained by rebel attacks, according to a report by ZeroHedge.
The Houthi rebels have taken responsibility for the attack. Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesperson, warned in a statement that Rubymar is “now at risk of potentially sinking.” He said that “the ship suffered catastrophic damages and came to a complete halt.” He added that Yemeni air defenses also shot down a United States General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone in the region “with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country.”
The West has continued to fail to bring peace to the region by using retaliatory strikes and killing military leaders.
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