A picture taken during an organized tour by Yemen’s Houthis on November 22, 2023 shows a cargo ship, seized by Houthi fighters two days earlier, at a port on the Red Sea in Yemen’s province of Hodeida. (AFP)
In the turbulent waters of the Red Sea, a sinister chapter unfolded on Sunday, as an American warship and multiple commercial vessels found themselves under assault, signaling a potential ominous turn in the escalating series of maritime attacks connected to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, played a pivotal role in the unfolding drama. Fending off a Houthi drone in the southern Red Sea, the Carney’s watchful eye detected a ballistic missile hurtling towards a civilian commercial vessel, the M/V Unity Explorer. The Carney swiftly intervened, destroying the incoming threat and responding to the Unity Explorer’s distress call. In a testament to its defensive capabilities, the Carney neutralized another Houthi drone targeting both the warship and the distressed commercial vessel.
The incident adds to a string of provocations orchestrated by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been relentless in their assault on vessels in the Red Sea. Concurrently, they have been launching drones and missiles, not only at maritime targets but also at Israel, as part of their involvement in the broader Israel-Hamas conflict.
The British military, too, reported a suspected drone attack and explosions in the Red Sea, heightening the sense of unease in the volatile region. The Houthis, however, remained tight-lipped, leaving the world to speculate on the nature of their next move. A Houthi military spokesman teased an impending “important” statement, adding an air of mystery to an already tense situation.
The backdrop to these maritime skirmishes is the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, where global shipping has become an inadvertent casualty. Even as a tenuous truce temporarily halts direct hostilities, the threat of a wider regional conflict looms large. The Houthis, true to their disruptive form, seized a vehicle transport ship linked to Israel earlier in November, further fueling the flames of maritime instability.
What sets this recent episode apart is the direct targeting of American assets by the Houthis after a period of relative restraint. The stakes rise with each incident, harkening back to 2016 when the U.S. responded to Houthi missile attacks on American Navy ships, including the USS Mason, with a decisive strike using Tomahawk cruise missiles.
As the Red Sea becomes a theater of maritime conflict, the world watches, bracing for the next move in this perilous game of geopolitical chess.
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