On Sunday morning, Dec. 31, at 6:30am (native time) the container ship Maersk Hangzhou issued a second misery name in lower than 24 hours reporting being beneath assault by 4 Iranian-backed Houthi small boats. The boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, fired on the container ship, attending to inside 20 meters of the ship, and tried to board.
Because the ship’s safety forces tried to carry the attackers at bay, helicopters from the USS Eisenhower provider group arrived and the Houthis opened hearth on them.
“The small boats fired upon the US helicopters with crew-served weapons and small arms,” Central Command mentioned in an announcement. “The US Navy helicopters returned hearth in self-defense, sinking three of the 4 small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the realm. There was no injury to U.S. personnel or tools.” Central Command didn’t say what number of had been killed, however in an announcement in a while Sunday the Houthis mentioned that 10 of their fighters had been useless.
The New York Instances notes that It seemed to be the primary time that American and allied forces patrolling the Pink Sea, a important waterway for oil and different shipments, have engaged in a lethal firefight with the Houthis since their assaults on ships started in October, following the outbreak of the battle between Israel and Hamas.
The Maersk Hangzhou had beforehand been struck by a Houthi missile at round 1730 GMT on Saturday, 55 nautical miles southwest of Al Hodeidah, Yemen. Maersk introduced it could delay all transits via the realm for 48 hours.
Following Saturday’s missile assault, the ship is claimed to be “seaworthy” with no reported accidents. The destroyers USS Gravely and USS Laboon responded to the incident, with the USS Gravely efficiently capturing down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.
On Dec. 26, the USS Laboon and F/A-18 Tremendous Hornets from the USS Eisenhower provider strike group shot down “twelve one-way assault drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land assault cruise missiles within the Southern Pink Sea that had been fired by the Houthis over a 10-hour interval,” the command mentioned.
Due to Alaric Bond for contributing to this put up.
