After weeks of harassing commercial ships in the Red Sea with apparent impunity, four ships finally paid the price on Saturday for participating in a campaign of terror against Western countries by the Iranian-backed Houthis.
According to reports, a US destroyer patrolling the Red Sea responded to reports that a container ship had been hit by a missile. Along the way, it detected and intercepted two more cruise missiles flying toward a U.S. Navy ship. The Houthis later attacked the container ship again, attempting to board it, and also opened fire on a U.S. warship that tried to intervene, and the navy responded with lethal force.
Iranian-funded Houthi rebels seeking to wrest control of war-torn Yemen from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government have been in the Red Sea since fighting broke out between Hamas terrorists and Islamists. threatening merchant ships. Israel on October 7th. Scores of merchant ships have been seized or forced to return, but the international response until Saturday had been largely indifferent and ineffective.
President Biden attempted to form an international coalition to respond to the attack and restore order to the Red Sea, but could only find nine coalition members. There has been growing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill over the government's failure to effectively protect U.S. commercial interests in the region from the Houthis.
According to U.S. Central Command, the Navy was initially responding to reports that the Danish container ship Maersk Hangzhou had been hit by a cruise missile when it detected cruise missiles heading toward the USS Gravely and USS Laboon, believed to be from Yemen. did. Those missiles were shot down.
Maersk Hangzhou then issued another distress signal, and a U.S. Navy ship rushed to the area and discovered Houthi vessels “within 20 meters” of Maersk Hangzhou. Houthi rebels reportedly engaged in a gunfight with Maersk Hangzhou's private security personnel who tried to prevent them from boarding the ship.
The U.S. military sent helicopters from the aircraft carriers Eisenhower and Gravely and used loudspeakers to try to attract Houthi ships. Houthi boats responded by firing on the helicopters, but the helicopters returned fire, sinking three boats and killing all Houthi crews on board. According to the US Navy, this is the 23rd attack on a commercial ship by the Houthis since October 7th.
The Houthis were designated a terrorist organization by former President Donald Trump near the end of his term, but President Joe Biden lifted the designation as part of an arms deal with Iran. The Biden administration recently redesignated the Houthis as a terrorist organization following the ship attack.
