US military targets Houthi radar sites in Yemen

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military has unleashed a wave of attacks targeting radar sites operated by Yemen's Houthi rebels after a merchant seaman went missing and the ship he was on caught fire in the latest Houthi strike on shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor, authorities said Saturday.

The attacks occur while The US Navy faces its most intense fighting since World War II trying to counter the Houthis' campaign – attacks which the rebels say are aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas War in the Gaza Strip. However, assaults by Iran-backed rebels often see the Houthis targeting ships and sailors that have nothing to do with the war, while traffic remains halved in a vital corridor for shipments of goods and energy between Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

US strikes destroyed seven radars in Houthi-controlled territory, the military's Central Command said. He did not say how the sites were destroyed and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

“These radars allow the Houthis to target maritime vessels and endanger commercial shipping,” the central command said in a statement.

The United States separately destroyed two bomb-laden drones in the Red Sea, as well as a drone launched by the Houthis over the waterway, it said.

The Houthis, who have controlled Yemen's capital Sanaa since 2014, have acknowledged neither the strikes nor the military losses. This is a typical situation since the United States began launching airstrikes against the rebels.

Central command said a commercial sailor from the Liberian-flagged Greek bulk carrier Tutor remained missing after an attack by the Houthis on Wednesday. used a drone carrying bombs to hit the ship.

“The crew abandoned ship and were rescued by the USS Philippine Sea and partner forces,” Central Command said. The “Tutor remains in the Red Sea and is slowly taking on water”.

The British Army's Maritime Commercial Operations Center said Saturday afternoon that the Tutor was “still on fire and sinking.”

The missing sailor is Filipino, according to the official Philippine News Agency, which cited Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac. He said most of the guardian's 22 sailors were from the Philippines.

“We are trying to find the particular sailor on the ship and we are praying that we can find him,” he said Friday evening.

Also on Saturday, the Central Command said the ship M/V Anna Meta rescued crew members of the cargo ship M/V Verbena, which was hit on Thursday in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen during two separate missile attacks by the Houthis.

The crew abandoned ship after being unable to control fires on the ship. A sailor was seriously injured.

CENTCOM said the Verbena is a Palau-flagged bulk carrier, owned by Ukraine and operated by Poland, which had docked in Malaysia and was en route to Italy with timber.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, has killed three sailors, seized one ship and sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. A US-led airstrikes campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes on May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, rebels say.

The war in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, while hundreds more have been killed in Israeli operations in the West Bank. It began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.

“The Houthis claim to act on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza and yet they target and threaten the lives of third-country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza,” the central command said. “The continued threat the Houthis pose to international trade actually makes it more difficult to deliver much-needed aid to the people of Yemen and Gaza. »

The attacks continued early Sunday as two explosions took place in close proximity to another ship in the Red Sea, although the ship and crew were unharmed, the British military said.