The US military says it was responding to a second attack on the same vessel near Yemen in 24 hours.

The US Navy has destroyed Houthi “small boats” attempting to board a container ship in the Red Sea.

Four vessels from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen fired upon the Maersk Hangzhou and got to within metres of the ship, the US military said.

Helicopters from nearby US warships responded to a distress call and after being fired upon, sunk three of them “in self-defence”.

The crews were killed and the fourth boat fled the area.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November.

  • rbesfe@lemmy.caEnglish
    626·
    1 year ago

    I honestly feel a little bad for these pirates, imagine being so deluded and uneducated that you think shooting at a US navy helicopter is a good idea

    • AshyrEnglish
      1926·
      1 year ago

      Imagine being so desperate. I don’t have sympathy for their actions, but let’s not pretend we’d fair any better under similar circumstances.

    • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      616·
      1 year ago

      The one surefire way to trigger an overwhelming US military response is to shoot down one of our helos. So unless they want the entire Somali Yemeni coast glassed (which, to be fair, they might as part of a larger geopolitical strategy), they would have to be very stupid to shoot at a USN helicopter.

      ETA: corrected location; my bad

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    7·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The Iranian-backed Yemeni rebel group have claimed its attacks on the vital shipping lane are directed at vessels linked to Israel, in response to the war in Gaza.

    The four Houthi boats attacked at around 06:30 Yemeni time (03:30 GMT) with mounted weapons and small arms, getting to within 20m (66ft) of the container ship, which the crew “attempted to board”.

    Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation reported an incident in the Red Sea about 55 nautical miles (101km) to the south-west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

    The rise in Houthi attacks over several weeks has led many shipping firms, including Maersk, to divert their vessels away from the Red Sea, travelling around the horn of Africa instead.

    To reach the Suez Canal in Egypt - which connects to the Mediterranean Sea - ships must pass through the tiny Bab al-Mandab Strait, just off the coast of Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.

    Maersk said last week that it was preparing to resume journeys through Red Sea - after diverting to the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope because of recent Houthi attacks on shipping.

    The original article contains 769 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!