Rescue mission for oil tanker attacked by Houthis has begun, according to US information

Two weeks after the pro-Iranian Houthi militia attacked an oil tanker, the US Army has announced that an operation to rescue the ship, which has been burning for days and anchored off the coast of Yemen, has begun. “Salvage operations” are underway in the south of the Red Sea for the wrecked ship, which “is still burning and thus poses the risk of a major environmental disaster,” the US Central Command Centcom, which is responsible for the Middle East, said on Monday.

The EU mission Aspides – which rescued the ship’s 25-member crew after the attack – had previously announced that it would protect the tugboats that were tasked with recovering the ship and support their “efforts to prevent an environmental disaster”. According to Aspides, no “visible signs of an oil spill” had been identified so far.

On Monday, two merchant ships were attacked again near the Houthis-controlled city of Hodeida, one of the Houthis’ known attacks. The US Central Command Centcom said the attacks were on two oil tankers – including a ship flying the Saudi Arabian flag that is said to be loaded with around two million barrels of crude oil.

The Houthi militia has been carrying out repeated attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea for months. The militia, which is supported by Iran and allied with the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, says it is acting “out of solidarity” with the Palestinians since Israel and Hamas began war in the Gaza Strip.

The attacks by the Houthis have severely disrupted shipping in the strategically important region, through which 12 percent of global maritime trade passes. The USA has set up a naval coalition to protect shipping. In turn, US and British forces are attacking positions of the Houthi militia in Yemen.

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