Netanyahu Vows Israel’s War Against Hamas Will Go On Until ‘Total Victory’: Live Updates

“Within the strategy of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, the small boats fired upon the U.S. helicopters with crew-served weapons and small arms,” Central Command stated in a statement on social media. “The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fireplace in self-defense, sinking three of the 4 small boats, and killing the crews.”

It was the newest and maybe deadliest such incident involving the Houthis, who management a big swath of northern Yemen, since Israel went to battle with Hamas on Oct. 7.

In solidarity with Hamas, which can also be backed by Iran, the Houthis have launched dozens of missile and drone assaults in opposition to business ships and seized an Israeli-linked vessel. The assaults have prompted the US and allies to deploy warships to the Crimson Sea, which is essential for international transport.

In early December, the usS. Carney destroyer shot down three drones throughout a sustained Houthi assault on business ships within the Crimson Sea, the Pentagon stated. The U.S. navy has not struck straight on the Houthis in Yemen, cautious of an escalation that might trigger the battle in Gaza to additional inflame the Center East.

The incident on Sunday concerned a container ship operated by the transport large Maersk, which was transiting the southern Crimson Sea when it got here underneath assault by Houthis, in line with statements by Central Command and by Maersk.

The container ship, the Maersk Hangzhou, reported that it had been struck by a missile at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, when it was about 55 nautical miles southwest of Hudaydah, Yemen. The crew “noticed a flash on the deck,” Maersk stated in an emailed assertion.

Two American vessels responded to the ship’s misery name, and one in all them, the usS. Gravely, a destroyer, “shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen towards the ships,” Central Command stated on social media.

No accidents had been reported, and Maersk stated that its vessel had continued its journey north.

Then, on Sunday morning, 4 small boats piloted by Houthis attacked the Maersk ship, attending to inside about 20 yards of the vessel, and tried to board it, Central Command stated in its subsequent assertion. It stated that safety officers had opened fireplace from the container vessel, which issued one other misery name, and that U.S. helicopters from the Gravely and the usS. Eisenhower, an plane service, flew to the scene, the place they got here underneath fireplace from the Houthis.

The U.S. navy didn’t point out the way it knew that the crew members of the three boats it sank had died. The fourth boat fled the realm, Central Command stated, including that no U.S. personnel had been harmed or tools broken within the episode.

The conflict got here simply days after Maersk stated that it was resuming voyages by means of the Crimson Sea and the Suez Canal. For a couple of week earlier than that announcement, the corporate’s ships had been avoiding the realm due to security issues.

On Sunday, Maersk stated in an emailed assertion that it might pause “all transits by means of the realm for the following 48 hours” because it investigates the assault and assesses safety within the waterway. The crew of the Maersk Hangzhou, which was touring from Singapore to Port Suez, was secure, the corporate stated.

The assault was the twenty third by the Houthis in about six weeks, in line with the US. The incidents have prompted some firms to keep away from the Crimson Sea, rerouting their vessels across the Cape of Good Hope, pushing up transport charges even because the longer voyages improve delays.

There was no rapid assertion on the incident from the Houthis.

America introduced this month that it had arrange a naval process pressure to attempt to make sure secure passage for business ships within the Crimson Sea. The members of the safety initiative, referred to as Operation Prosperity Guardian, embrace Bahrain, Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.