The United States military unleashed a wave of attacks targeting radar sites operated by Yemen's Houthi rebels over their assaults on shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor, authorities said Saturday, after one merchant sailor went missing following an earlier Houthi strike on a ship. The attacks come as the US Navy faces the most intense combat it has seen since World War II in trying to counter the Houthi campaign—attacks the rebels say are meant to halt the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, per the AP. However, the Iranian-backed rebel assaults often see the Houthis target ships and sailors who have nothing to do with the war, while traffic remains halved through a corridor vital for cargo and energy shipments between Asia, Europe, and the Mideast.
US strikes destroyed seven radars within Houthi-controlled territory, the military's Central Command said. It didn't elaborate on how the sites were destroyed and didn't immediately respond to questions from the AP. "These radars allow the Houthis to target maritime vessels and endanger commercial shipping," Central Command said in a statement. The US separately destroyed two bomb-laden drone boats in the Red Sea, as well as a drone launched by the Houthis over the waterway, it said. The Houthis, who've held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, didn't acknowledge the strikes, nor any military losses. That's been typical since the US began launching airstrikes targeting the rebels. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, killed three sailors, seized one vessel, and sunk another since November, per the US Maritime Administration.
Meanwhile, Central Command said one commercial sailor from the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk cargo carrier Tutor remained missing after an attack Wednesday by the Houthis that used a bomb-carrying drone boat to strike the vessel. "The crew abandoned ship and were rescued by [the] USS Philippine Sea and partner forces," per Central Command. "[The] Tutor remains in the Red Sea and is slowly taking on water." The missing sailor is Filipino, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency, which cited Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac. He said most of the Tutor's 22 mariners were from the Philippines. "We're trying to account for the particular seafarer in the ship and are praying that we could find him," he reportedly said Friday night. More here.
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