US strikes targeting Houthi cruise boats and missiles in the Red Sea

On Thursday, the United States military announced that Central Command forces had launched 7 self-defence strikes against 4 Houthi marching boats and seven anti-ship cruise missiles intended to be fired at Red Sea vessels.

The army added that the Central Command had confirmed that missiles and marching boats located in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen represented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.

Such actions would also protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer.

According to Houthi media outlets, an American and British bombing targeted the Ras Issa area in the Salif district of Hodeidah province in western Yemen.

The leader of the group, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said: “The Yemen Front continues to target the Israeli enemy until the aggression and blockade of the Gaza Strip is halted.”

In a televised speech, he added that the American talk of the impact of the strikes on the military’s capabilities was merely an amusement and a preservation of face water as expressed.

Reduced ship traffic
In the context, IMF Executive Director Kristalina Gorgueva confirmed that over the past January, ship traffic in the Red Sea had halved compared with last year.

On a related note, Mersk Shipping CEO Vincent Clerk said the U.S. Navy had informed him that it was currently unable to ensure the safety of navigation for all ships in the Red Sea.

Klerk added that the situation in the region was escalating and expressed pessimism about the shipping situation because of the situation in the Middle East and the Red Sea, as he put it.

In solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been under ongoing Israeli aggression since October 7, 2023 targeting the Houthis with rockets and Red Sea cargo vessels’ marches owned or operated by Israeli companies or transporting goods to and from Israel.

In an attempt to deter them, US and British forces have launched strikes on their positions in Yemen since January 12 and the US military alone has occasionally carried out rocket strikes that it says are intended to fire.

The Houthi attacks affect shipping traffic in the strategic region, which passes through 12% of global trade and caused a doubling of transport costs as a result of the shipping companies’ diversion to Cape of Good Hope in the far South Africa, prolonging the journey between Asia and Europe for about a week.