The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen fired a missile that struck the Maersk Hangzhou in the Red Sea on Saturday, according to U.S. Central Command — the first successful strike against a commercial ship since the U.S. formed a coalition to deter attacks.
The Biden administration has been unwilling, thus far, to attack Houthi missile sites or naval assets directly, and has instead tried to deter Houthi attacks by sending naval vessels to the region and shooting down drones and missiles — apparently to little avail.
The Times of Israel reported:
The US Central Command says the Maersk Hangzhou container ship reported being struck by a missile while sailing through the Red Sea, seemingly the first successful attack since the launch of an international coalition to patrol the key waterway 10 days ago.
An American warship, the USS Gravely, shot down two more ballistic missiles while responding to a distress call along with the USS Labboon, the military says.
…
According to CentCom, there were no injuries on the Maersk container ship, and the ship remains seaworthy and able to continue its journey.
The strike occurred just a day after Denmark joined the coalition, and just days after the Danish-owned Maersk company said it would resume shipping through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, after taking detours for weeks around the Cape of Good Hope.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced “Operation Prosperity Guardian” on December 18, which included ten nations that supposedly committed to help deter Houthi attacks on shipping. The Houthis want to isolate Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat.
But the list of nations excluded Israel, and omitted Saudi Arabia and Egypt, two regional countries whose interests are indirectly threatened by the Houthi attacks. Spain, supposedly one of the original ten members, appeared to back out several days later.
The U.S. Navy admitted earlier Saturday that the Houthis had shown no sign of ending their attacks, essentially conceding failure.
Update: U.S. Navy helicopters reportedly sunk three of the four boats used in the attack on the Hangzhou. Nevertheless, Maersk is pausing shipping through the Red Sea for 48 hours.
The attack marked the 23rd since Nov. 19th, according to Israel’s Army Radio.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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