A fertilizer-laden cargo ship attacked by the Yemeni Houthi group has reportedly sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, marking the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of the militants’ campaign on commercial shipping in response to Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis vowed on Sunday to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of UK-owned vessel Rubymar.
The U.S. military confirmed on Saturday that the UK-owned vessel Rubymar had sunk after being struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Yemeni Houthi militants on February 18th.
‘Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to Britain's bill’, Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in the Houthi-led government, said in a post on X.
‘It is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza’.
Houthi militants have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel's military actions in Gaza.
Their Red Sea attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread to destabilise the wider Middle East.
The U.S. and Britain began striking Houthi targets in Yemen in January in retaliation for the attacks on Red Sea shipping”. -Adam Makary and Jana Choukeir, Reuters
The Belize-flagged, Lebanese-operated vessel reportedly carrying approximately 23,000 tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer sank as stormy weather took hold over the Red Sea following the cargo ship being abandoned after the Houthis’ ballistic missile attack in the Bab el-Mandeb strait two weeks ago, posing a significant environmental risk to one of the world’s busiest waterways and its numerous coral reefs.