Houthi "ballistic" targets US tanker in Red Sea

Shafaq News / The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced, on Monday morning, that the Iranian-backed Houthis launched one anti-ship ballistic missile likely targeting the M/V Torm Thor, a U.S.-flagged, owned, and operated chemical/oil product tanker in the Gulf of Aden, mentioning that the missile impacted the water causing no damage or injuries.

Earlier in the evening, at about 9 p.m. (Sanaa time), CENTCOM forces “shot down two one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles over the southern Red Sea in self-defense. A third UAV crashed from an assessed in-flight failure.”

The Houthis, also known as Ansarallah, started their operations in the Red Sea, preventing all Israeli or Israeli-related ships from passing through Bab Al-Mandeb.

The group said that all its operations are in solidarity with "the oppressed Palestinian people, who until this moment are subjected to aggression and siege."

The Yemeni group, which controls most of Yemen, including the vital capital, Sanaa, is a key player in the region and a main part of the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance. This umbrella includes Iraqi factions, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions.

Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Gaza, the US has expressed solidarity with Tel Aviv, providing it with unconditional military, political, and financial support.

Earlier this week, Washington used veto power to quash Algeria's draft resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The US administration repeatedly said that it did not want the war to be expanded, especially after its interests were attacked in Iraq and Syria by the Iraqi Resistance in Iraq. Yet, the blatant support for Israel put the US administration in a critical position, facing massive protests in different states, where President Joe Biden was unwelcome, including Michigan, the home of the large Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, and Iraqi communities.