Yemen: targeting a British oil ship and shooting down an American drone

Yemen – The Houthi group in Yemen announced, late on Friday evening, that it had targeted a British oil ship in the Red Sea and shot down an American drone, in response to the continued Israeli aggression once morest the Gaza Strip.

The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a video speech that the group targeted the British oil ship “Andromeda Star” in the Red Sea, with a number of suitable naval missiles, which led to the ship being directly hit.

In turn, the US Central Command, Centcom, said in a statement that the Houthis launched three anti-ship ballistic missiles at 17.49 local time (14.49 GMT) from the areas they control in Yemen towards the Red Sea, where two commercial ships are located.

Centcom added on the X platform that the ship “Andromeda Star” had reported minor damage but was continuing its journey.

Hours earlier, the British maritime security agency UKMTO reported that a ship was damaged following being exposed to two successive attacks 14 nautical miles southwest of Mokha, Yemen.

The agency, run by the British Royal Forces, said: “During the first attack, the ship witnessed an explosion close to it, and the crew felt it.” After that, the second attack on the ship occurred with what were believed to be two missiles, causing damage to the ship.” The agency did not give any information regarding the safety of the crew.

In a related context, Saree said, “The air defense forces succeeded in shooting down an American MQ9 aircraft in the airspace of Saada Governorate (north), and it was targeted while it was carrying out hostile missions with a suitable missile.”

The spokesman appreciated what he described as “the great popular support for the armed forces’ operations once morest the Israeli enemy, and once morest the American-British aggression supporting it at sea.”

He stressed that their forces would continue to carry out more military operations “until the siege is lifted and the aggression once morest the Palestinian people in Gaza is stopped,” he said.

Since last November, the Houthis have continued their attacks in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, and the group says that it is targeting Israeli ships linked to Israel or those heading to it, “in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

Israel has continued its war on Gaza for more than 6 months, and has left tens of thousands of civilians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, despite the issuance of an immediate ceasefire resolution by the UN Security Council, and despite its appearance before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”