Houthis Warn of 'Repercussions' After 10 Fighters Killed in US Red Sea Attack

The casualties come in the wake of the Yemeni militia group’s month-and-a-half-long campaign of hijackings and missile and drone strikes against commercial ships with suspected links to Israel in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing Israeli military assault on Gaza.

Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement has confirmed that 10 of its fighters have been killed in a US attack in the Red Sea.

In a statement late Sunday, Ansar Allah spokesman Yahya Sarea said three Houthi boats were attacked by US forces as they engaged in operations to ensure “security and stability and protecting the sea, in addition to performing their humanitarian and moral duty in preventing Israeli ships or those heading to occupied Palestine from passing through the Red Sea.”

“US enemy forces attacked three boats belonging to the Yemeni Naval Forces, which led to the martyrdom and the loss of ten people from the Naval Forces,” Sarea said.

“The US enemy bears the consequences of this crime and its repercussions. Its military maneuvers in the Red Sea to protect Israeli ships will not prevent Yemen from performing its religious, moral and humanitarian duty in support and victory for the oppressed in Palestine,” the spokesman stressed.

The Houthis have repeatedly warned that attacks against them by the US and their Operation Prosperity Guardian coalition allies would be met with retaliation, up to and including missile strikes against Western warships. Washington began assembling its Red Sea coalition last month, but has faced difficulties filling its membership, as major NATO allies have refused to participate, while others offered just a handful of shipless seamen.

United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed earlier in the day Sunday that it had sunk three of four Houthi speedboats attempting to board the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged, Danish-operated container ship in the Red Sea with private security contractors on board which the Houthis suspected was heading for Israel.

A day earlier, the Maersk Hangzhou was targeted by Houthi missiles, CENTCOM said.

CENTCOM maintains the US’ “self-defense” attacks targeting of the Houthi boats, conducted by helicopters launched from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, were carried out after being targeted by the Houthis.

Sunday’s deadly incident came amid reports by British media that the UK, one of the few US allies willing to commit significant naval forces to Washington’s coalition, was preparing in coordination with the Pentagon to mount “direct action” strikes on the Houthis after issuing the militia with a “verbal final warning.”

The West’s bellicose, "shoot now, ask questions later" approach to the Red Sea crisis has been met with criticism and disapproval from other members of the international community, with Saudi Arabia – the country which earlier led an eight-year-long campaign to try to oust the Houthis from power, expressing a lack of interest in joining the US-led coalition.

Meanwhile, China last week called for the regional crisis to be resolved through dialogue and political consultations. “China has always stood for maintaining the security of international waterways, sought to address both symptoms and root causes, and advocated resolving pressing regional problems through dialogue, consultations and political means,” Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said last Thursday.

Also last week, Yemeni media reported that the Houthis had trained up some 20,000 reservists to engage the US coalition and its Israeli allies in the Red Sea.

Ansar Allah has indicated that its Red Sea campaign of hijackings and missile and drone attacks on commercial shipping would halt if Israel stopped its operations in Gaza.