Tension escalates in the Red Sea between Houthi drones and US missiles

The escalation of tension in the Red Sea starred this Sunday in a new episode with accusations of crossfire between the Houthi Shiite rebels of Yemen and the Central Naval Command of USA (CENTCOM) against drones or ships sailing in the area.

Yemeni insurgents today accused the United States of attacking with missiles one of the Shiite movement’s drones, during a reconnaissance mission over the Red Sea, and that it exploded near a ship owned by Gabon, which was unharmed.

Meanwhile, the US did not comment on the matter, but earlier this day it reported the firing of two anti-ship missiles towards maritime trade routes in the southern Red Sea from areas controlled by the Houthis, as well as drone attacks. to oil tankers and military vessels that were not damaged.

The Council of the European Union (EU) joins this geopolitical board, which announced today its intention to continue work on the “modalities” to contribute to freedom of navigation in the area for which the US announced at the beginning of last week the creation of an international coalition.

Accusations and crossfire

The spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Mohamed Abdulsalam, stated on his X profile (formerly Twitter) that “an American warship opened fire indiscriminately with multiple weapons” against “a reconnaissance plane belonging to the Houthi forces” while “carrying out reconnaissance over the Red Sea.”

According to Abdulsalam, “one of the missiles exploded near a ship heading to the southern Red Sea, belonging to the Republic of Gabon, from Russian ports.”

So far, the US has not issued any statement regarding this, but this morning the CENTCOM reported that on Saturday it detected the shooting of ““two Houthi anti-ship missiles” towards the maritime transit zone, without “No ship will report being hit by ballistic missiles.”

This report coincided with the one published yesterday afternoon by the British Navy, which warned of two new “incidents” near the Strait of Bab al Mandeb, close to the Yemeni ports of Salef and Al Hodeida, when oil tankers were sailing, one with the Norwegian flag and the other with the Indian flag, and which were not damaged.

Alliances for security

The position of the Houthis and their actions against ships in the Red Sea intensified after the announcement at the beginning of last week by the United States of the creation of a multinational coalition to protect maritime navigation and international trade in the area.

On December 20, ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven, meeting in an extraordinary meeting in the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, agreed to contribute, through the EUNavfor Atalanta community mission, to the US operation. “Guardian of Prosperity”, promoted to safeguard security in the Red Sea.

“Work will continue in the Council regarding the modalities of the contribution of the EU and its Member States to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” community sources told EFE.

However, on Saturday Spain made it clear that what it defends is the creation of a specific mission in the Red Sea with “scope, means and own objectives” to protect commercial shipping from Houthi attacks, instead of acting through the Atalanta mission, promoted by the EU in 2008 to combat piracy in Indian Ocean waters off the coast of Somalia.