CAIRO: Yemen’s Houthis have launched attacks on three ships in the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Sea, the Iran-aligned group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Friday.
The attacks are the latest in a months-long campaign of Houthi strikes against regional shipping in what the group says is solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in the Gaza war.
Sarea said in a televised speech that Houthi forces had targeted the Yannis ship in the Red Sea, the Essex in the Mediterranean Sea and MSC Alexandra in the Arabian Sea.
Houthis “fired several missiles at the ship Essex in the Mediterranean Sea while it was violating the decision ban that prevents entry into occupied Palestinian ports,” Sarea added.
He did not clarify when the attacks took place.
Earlier this month, the leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi had said that all ships heading to Israeli ports would be attacked by the Iran-backed group, not just those in the Red Sea region which it has sought to strike before.
The Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships in the crucial shipping channels of the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandab strait and the Gulf of Aden since November to show their support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
This has forced shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and has stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread and destabilize the Middle East.
Yemen’s Houthis attack 3 ships including one in Mediterranean
https://arab.news/cyz7t
Yemen’s Houthis attack 3 ships including one in Mediterranean
- Attacks are latest in months-long campaign of Houthi strikes against regional shipping
Iran close to deal with China to buy supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles
- Giant aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford docks in Crete en route to Middle East
LONDON: Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, as the US deploys a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead of possible strikes.
The CM-302 missiles have a range of about 290 kilometers and are designed to evade shipborne defences by flying low and fast. Their deployment would significantly enhance Iran’s strike capabilities and pose a threat to US naval forces in the region, two weapons experts said.
“It’s a complete gamechanger if Iran has supersonic capability to attack ships in the area,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli intelligence officer and now senior Iran researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank in Israel. “These missiles are very difficult to intercept.”
It is not known how many missiles are involved in the potential deal, how much Iran has agreed to pay, or whether China would go through with the agreement given heightened tensions in the region.
“Iran has military and security agreements with its allies, and now is an appropriate time to make use of these agreements,” an Iranian foreign ministry official said.
Meanwhile the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, has reached the US naval base of Souda Bay on the Mediterranean island of Crete en route to the Middle East.
Washington has more than a dozen warships in the region: the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, nine destroyers and three combat ships.
