Houthi attack kills six in first fatalities in Red Sea in over a year; U.S. strikes container ship

Livestream Menu Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed six people in an attack on a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. S. forces fired missiles at a container ship attempting to breach Washington's blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. The twin incidents show how the war is inflicting a toll on two of the world's most critical shipping lanes. @LCO.1 @CL.1 The US Coast Guard seized advanced weapons and lethal aid from Iran, destined for Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in the Red Sea on Jan. 28, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Thursday, on February 15, 2024 in Tampa, Florida, United States. The boarding team discovered over 200 packages that contained medium-range ballistic missile components, explosives, unmanned underwater/surface vehicle (UUV/USV) components, military-grade communication and network equipment, anti-tank guided missile launcher assemblies, and other military components. (Photo by CENTCOM / Handout/Anadolu via ) CENTCOM | Anadolu | Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed six people aboard a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, the first reported fatalities from attacks targeting Red Sea shipping in more than a year. S. forces said they had fired missiles at a container ship that allegedly attempted to breach Washington's blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. The twin incidents illustrate how the war, stretched into its sixth month, is inflicting a widening toll on two of the world's most critical shipping lanes, even as diplomats signal progress towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Yemen's transport ministry said the casualties included four crew members aboard the vessel — identified as the Egyptian-owned, Tanzania-flagged Tihamah — three of them Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian. Separately, Yemen's coastguard reportedly said two members of the Yemeni government-allied National Resistance Forces were also killed in a follow-up strike as they carried out a rescue. Yemen's transport ministry said in its statement that it holds "the Houthi terrorist militias fully responsible for the deaths, injuries and damage inflicted on the commercial vessel "Tihamah" as well as for the serious consequences resulting from these attacks," according to a Google translation of Arabic.  A Houthi-aligned media outlet later said the group's forces had targeted a ship carrying Saudi military equipment, though the Houthis haven't addressed the casualty figures officially. The Iran-aligned group declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea on July 20 after the collapse of a years-long Yemeni civil-war truce, calling it retaliation for a Saudi "siege" on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh has denied.