Global | 2024.01.02 08:27
[서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Choi Won-jin = The U.S. military first engaged in combat on December 31 (local time) with Yemeni Houthi rebels who attacked civilian ships passing through the Red Sea.
The U.S. Central Command sent an emergency response to the Red Sea at around 6:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. on the 31st, Korean time), reporting that the Singapore-flagged, Danish-owned Maersk Hangzhou was being attacked by four Houthi rebel ships. Request received.
A Houthi rebel helicopter flying threateningly to capture the cargo ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea in November last year. [사진=로이터 뉴스핌]
These rebel ships approached the Maersk Hangzhou by 20 meters, threatened it by firing small firearms, and attempted to board it. The security team of the Maersk Hangzhou was responding to the attack.
Accordingly, the U.S. Navy sortied helicopters from the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower and the destroyer USS Gravelly and warned Houthi rebel ships not to approach the Maersk Hangzhou. However, Houthi rebel ships began attacking the helicopter, and the U.S. military responded in self-defense. In the process, three of the four Houthi rebel ships were sunk and one escaped.
According to Reuters, the Houthis reported that 10 Houthi rebels were “killed or missing” in the U.S. attack.
This is the first time that U.S. forces and Yemeni Houthi rebels have engaged in combat in the Red Sea. Like Hamas, the Palestinian armed faction that is at war with Israel, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, supported by the Iranian government, have been attacking Israeli-related civilian ships traveling in the Red Sea since November of last year.
The United States has formed a multinational fleet and is deploying to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to protect the Red Sea-Suez Canal-Mediterranean route, the shortest route connecting Asia and Europe.
Several countries, including some North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, participated in the multinational security initiative ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG)’, but the United Kingdom is the only country other than the United States that has dispatched warships to the Red Sea. Denmark plans to dispatch a small destroyer within this month.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on the 1st that Iran’s Alborz battleship entered the Red Sea. The news agency did not disclose the timing of the Alborz battleship’s entry into the Red Sea or the specific details of the operation.
wonjc6@newspim.com
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2024-01-01 22:57:00