Yemen Monitor/News Room
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) announced on Friday an incident 50 nautical miles southeast of the city of Aden, while the Netherlands plans to send a warship to the Red Sea to help defend commercial shipping amid the continued Houthi attacks.
The UKMTO said in a statement on “X” platform: “We have received a report of an incident 50 nautical miles southeast of Aden, Yemen,” with no further details.
The UK agency called on ships sailing in the area to “exercise caution and report any suspicious activity,” confirming that the relevant authorities have opened an investigation to uncover the circumstances of the incident.
In a related context, the Dutch television network “NOS” quoted unnamed sources on its website as saying that the Dutch cabinet will take an official decision today, Friday, to send a warship to the Red Sea.
The network pointed out that “the focus of the Dutch contribution will be on protecting ships by intercepting air attacks, and the ship is scheduled to be ready for operation in the Red Sea by the end of this March”.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) had previously announced that it had carried out strikes targeting four anti-ship cruise missiles and a drone in areas controlled by the Houthis.
The command confirmed that its forces shot down three other drones launched from areas controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis towards the Gulf of Aden.
According to a statement, it clarified that “these actions are being taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer for the US Navy and commercial ships”.
On Wednesday, 3 crew members of the US cargo ship “True Confidence” were killed and 4 were injured after it was targeted by a Houthi anti-ship missile in the Gulf of Aden, while Washington vowed to respond.
Since the beginning of December last year, the Houthis have claimed to have targeted more than 60 ships in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, using missiles and drones.
On February 19, the first British ship was sunk in the Red Sea after being targeted by a Houthi missile attack and remained stranded for 13 days off the Yemeni coast.
Since the beginning of this year, a US-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes that it says target Houthi sites in different parts of Yemen, in response to their attacks in the Red Sea.
Over the past few weeks, the city of Hodeidah and other areas in Yemen have been subjected to a large number of US and British airstrikes in an attempt to limit the capabilities of the Houthis.
With the intervention of Washington and London and the escalation of tensions in January last year, the Houthis announced that they now consider all US and British ships to be within their military targets.
