US Navy Sinks Three Iran-Backed Houthi Boats After Attack On Merchant Ship In Red Sea

The US Navy has destroyed three of four Houthi small boats used by the Iran-backed militants to attack the Maersk Hangzhou vessel in the southern Red Sea, the US military said on Sunday. 

The move comes after Iranian-backed Houthi militants attacked a Maersk container vessel on Saturday. This was the latest attack by the Houthi militants in Yemen, who have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea, showing their support for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group fighting Israel in Gaza. 

Iranian-backed Houthi small boats attack merchant vessel and U.S. Navy helicopters in Southern Red Sea

On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed… pic.twitter.com/pj8NAzjbVF

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2023

US Central Command said in a statement on Sunday that the Maersk container ship, the Singapore-flagged Hangzhou, made a distress call that four small boats were attacking it. Following the attack,  Maersk announced to pause all sailing through the Red Sea for 48 hours, as reported by news agency Reuters. 

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In response to distress calls from the Maersk Hangzhou vessel, helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely opened fire on the Houthi boats in self-defence and sank three of the boats, with no survivors,  US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, Maersk said that the Hangzhou vessel was safe and there was no indication of fire onboard the vessel. The ship proceeded northward to Port Suez. The Singapore-flagged vessel with a capacity to carry 14,000 containers was en route from Singapore, Reuters reported. 

According to Hamas-run territory's health ministry, the US has rushed military aid to support Israel which carried out a campaign in Gaza that killed more than 20,000 people, mostly civilians. The deathat its forces in Iraq and Syria repeatedly came under fire from drone and rocket attacks by Iran-backed militant groups.