On January 16, the Yemeni rebels attacked the Greek-owned ship with a missile
The first photos of the damage caused by the Houthi attack on the Greek-owned ship Zografia in the Red Sea have been released.
On January 16, the Yemeni rebels attacked the Greek-owned ship Zografia with a missile that hit the ship's deck.
***UPDATE***
First photos of the ship ZOGRAFIA which was hit by an anti-ship ballistic missile on Jan 16 (see https://t.co/QJi1g6Yr8c)
The missile appears to have gone straight through.
This supports previous observations. pic.twitter.com/K2cVdo0zYX
— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) January 23, 2024
It is a Maltese-flagged dry cargo ship with a capacity of 56,000 tons, with a crew of 24, none of whom were Greek.
"We targeted the ship Zografia, which was heading towards Israel, with missiles that resulted in a 'direct hit'," the Houthi military spokesman had said a week ago in a related announcement.
No injuries were reported from the explosion.
The chief negotiator for the Iranian-backed Houthis had said the group's position had not changed following US-led airstrikes in Yemen and warned that attacks on ships bound for Israel would continue.
US conducts two strikes in Yemen which destroy Houthi anti-ship missile sites
The US military has carried out two more strikes in Yemen which they say have destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed at the Red Sea. The US says the Houthis were preparing to launch the missiles.
US central command (Centcom) has posted on X that “U.S. forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region.”
Centcom describes the strikes as “self-defence”. These are the latest strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis over its targeting of Red Sea shipping. There was also a larger round of strikes late Monday.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have said their attacks on ships are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza. The attacks have disrupted global shipping and deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilise the Middle East.
U.S. CENTCOM Destroys Two Houthi Terrorists' Anti-Ship Missiles
On Jan. 24 at approximately 2:30 a.m.(Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces conducted strikes against two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch. U.S.… pic.twitter.com/l3CMPrDx92
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 24, 2024
Along with those latest strikes by the US on Houthi anti-ship missile sites in Yemen, the US launched strikes in Iraq on Tuesday.
“US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq,” the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement.
“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,” Austin added.
On Saturday, four US personnel suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase was hit by multiple ballistic missiles and rockets fired by Iranian-backed militants from inside Iraq.
Sources speaking to the Reuters news agency said Tuesday’s strikes in Iraq killed at least two militants, and that four people were wounded.
The United States has asked China to urge Iran to rein in the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
The Financial Times is reporting that the US has seen little sign of help from Beijing, citing US officials.
The US has repeatedly raised the matter with top Chinese officials in the past three months, the report said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy, Jon Finer, discussed the issue in meetings this month in Washington with Liu Jianchao, head of the international liaison department of China’s Communist party, the newspaper said.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken also raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart, the report said, adding US officials believe there was little evidence that China had put any pressure on Iran to restrain Yemen’s Houthis, beyond a mild statement that Beijing issued last week.
The reports come as the US military carried out strikes in Yemen, destroying two Houthi anti-ship missiles that the US said were aimed at the Red Sea and were preparing to launch.
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