US and UK launch air strikes on Houthi targets

US and British forces carried out at least six airstrikes on Yemeni Houthi targets on Monday in retaliation for repeated attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea area, Houthi media reported.

The attacks targeted Yemen’s Hodeidah international airport and four attacks on Kamaran Island near the port of Salif off the Red Sea, Al-Masirah TV, the main television news channel of Yemen’s Houthi movement, reported on Monday.

The attacks on Kamaran are the first attack by US-led coalition forces on the island since air strikes on Houthi targets began earlier this year.

They follow the first successful drone attack at sea by the Iran-backed Houthis and further missile attacks that damaged the cargo ships Tutor and Verbena last week. Both ships are abandoned and drifting helplessly – the Tutor is in danger of sinking, military and security experts said.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Russian, Chinese and Iranian warships near Tutor did not respond to distress calls for help. The Houthis have reportedly assured Russia and China that they will not attack their merchant vessels.

“Among the ships within response distance that did not assist the M/V Tutor were Iranian, Russian and Chinese warships. The Tutor is still in the Red Sea, slowly taking on water while awaiting salvage vessels to assist in the recovery,” said Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh. said during her press conference on Monday.

The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital and most populous areas, have been attacking international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. During that time, they have sunk one ship, hijacked another and killed three sailors in separate attacks. The attacks began after Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei called on Muslim nations to block Israeli trade in early November.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government believes Houthi fighters have used the island of Kamaran and Port Salif as a base for their attacks in the Red Sea in the past and have hidden missile and drone supplies in the country’s salt mines, two military sources within the government told Reuters.

The 10-kilometer stretch of water stretching from Salif Port to Kamaran Island is also part of the route that ships must traverse to reach their next port of call.

Military and security officials said the Liberian-flagged Tutor has been taking on water since the Houthis attacked it in the Red Sea on Wednesday with an armed boat drone and aerial missiles. The attack damaged the Tutor’s engine room and caused severe flooding.

Rescue workers from the US aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group have brought the crew of the Tutor to safety. One sailor is still missing.

The US Central Command also announced that crew members of the Palau-flagged ship Verbena had sent out a distress call over the weekend because two Houthi missile attacks had caused uncontrolled fires in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday.

The Cayman Islands-flagged wheat freighter Anna-Meta rescued the Verbena’s crew and is bringing them to safety, CENTCOM said.

Despite reprisals from the US-British coalition and other naval forces, the Houthis have expanded their campaign against merchant ships in one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

Their missile and drone attacks forced shipowners to divert their vessels from the vital shortcut through the Suez Canal – causing huge costs and delays for the vital maritime shipping industry that handles around 80 percent of international trade.