British and American warships have shot down a huge wave of missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels after the militants’ largest attack in the Red Sea to date.
HMS Diamond, a £1billion Type 45 destroyer known as the jewel of the Royal Navy, shot down the targets with a barrage of Sea Viper missiles – which travel three times the speed of sound. US fighter jets were also involved in the operation.
Dramatic pictures showed the moment the British Destroyer shot down the huge wave of missiles and drones fired by the Iranian-backed rebels.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps called the Houthi attack ‘the largest to date’ and said the UK had taken action to ‘protect innocent lives and the global economy’. He said none of HMS Diamond’s crew had been injured.
The Houthis are an Iranian backed militia that has been pummelling merchant ships in the Red Sea for months, forcing a coalition of nations including the UK and USA to deploy warships to protect them.
The rebels say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But their targets are increasingly random, raising the risk of a US retaliatory strike on Yemen.
The attacks are disrupting maritime trade through the Suez canal – a crucial route linking Europe with Asia and the Middle East – leading to delays and price rises for consumers.
Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels
Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels
HMS Diamond, a £1billion Type 45 destroyer known as the jewel of the Royal Navy, shot down the targets with a barrage of sea viper missiles – which travel three times the speed of sound
Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps called the Houthi attack ‘the largest to date’ and said the UK had taken action to ‘protect innocent lives and the global economy’
Mr Shapps said: ‘Overnight, HMS Diamond, along with US warships, successfully repelled the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.
‘Deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns, Diamond destroyed multiple attack drones heading for her and commercial shipping in the area, with no injuries or damage sustained to Diamond or her crew.
‘The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences. We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.’
READ MORE: Brits are warned price rises sparked by Houthi rebel attacks on cargo vessels are ‘imminent’ as shipping giants divert around South Africa
The UN Security Council will vote on a motion later today that would call for the attacks to stop. Today’s assault took place off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey.
Merchant captains were urged to ‘proceed at maximum speed’ through the perilous waters.
The US military’s Central Command said the ‘complex attack’ launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile. No damage was immediately reported.
It said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason.
‘This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19,’ Central Command said. ‘There were no injuries or damage reported.’
The Houthis, a Shiite group that’s held Yemen’s capital since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks.
However, Al Jazeera quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces ‘targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea,’ without elaborating.
The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country’s war on Hamas.
But the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.
The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
That strait is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it.
An estimated $1trillion worth of goods pass through the strait annually.
The US military said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (file image), as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason
File image of Houthi rebels boarding a vessel amid their assault on world’s crucial trade routes
A US draft resolution before the UN Security Council, obtained last night, says the Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce ‘and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.’
The resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that it seized in November along with its crew.
An initial draft of the resolution would have recognized ‘the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to take appropriate measures to defend their merchant and naval vessels.’
The final draft is weaker, eliminating any U.N. recognition of a country’s right to defend its ships.
Instead, it would affirm that the navigational rights and freedoms of merchant and commercial vessels must be respected, and take note ‘of the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to defend their vessels from attacks, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.’
A US-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try and prevent the attacks.
American troops in one incident sank Houthi vessels and killed 10 rebel fighters, though there’s been no broad retaliatory strike yet despite warnings from the US.
However, Tuesday’s attack appeared to be testing what response, if any, would come from Washington.
Meanwhile, a separate, tentative cease-fire between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government has held for months despite that country’s long war.
That’s raised concerns that any wider conflict in the sea – or a potential reprisal strike from Western forces – could reignite those tensions in the Arab world’s poorest nation. It also may draw Iran, which so far has largely avoided directly entering the wider Israel-Hamas war, further into the conflict.