Yemen’s Houthis confirm 10 members killed in US attack in Red Sea

Yemen’s Armed Forces have issued a stern warning to the United States on Sunday, saying Washington bears full responsibility for the consequences of a deadly attack by US Navy on Yemeni boats in the Red Sea.

The warning came through a Sunday statement after earlier the same day US Navy helicopters attacked four boats belonging to the Yemeni Naval Forces, sinking three of them and killing at least 10 Yemeni servicemen.

The statement, which was read out by Yemeni Armed Forces’ spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said the attack took place as Yemen’s boats “were carrying out their routine official duties in reinforcing security and stability, and protecting maritime navigation” in the Red Sea.

He added that the attack also took place while Yemeni forces were “fulfilling their humanitarian and ethical duty…in prohibiting Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of the occupied Palestine from passing through the Red Sea in solidarity with and support of the Palestinian people.”

“The American enemy bears responsibility for the consequences and repercussions of this crime, and that its military movements in the Red Sea to protect Israeli ships will not prevent Yemen from fulfilling its religious, ethical, and humanitarian duty in support and aid of the oppressed [people] in Palestine and Gaza,” the statement read.

Elsewhere in their statement, the Yemeni Armed Forces once again advised all countries “not to be drawn into American plans aimed at igniting conflict in the Red Sea”, affirming that they “will not hesitate to confront any aggression against our country and our people”.

Yemen’s Armed Forces have been staging missile and drone attacks against vessels heading to Israeli ports in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been under an unrelenting genocidal war by the Israeli regime for more than two months now.

Close to 22,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed during the war, which the regime launched on October 7 following an operation by Gaza’s resistance movements, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm.

The Yemeni forces have vowed to keep up their strikes until the regime stops the war and lifts a concomitant siege that it has been imposing on Gaza.

In reaction, the United States has announced formation of an American-led naval coalition of Washington’s allies aimed at heading off the Yemeni attacks.

Washington has already admitted to the failure of the multinational task force.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the top commander of US naval forces in West Asia, stated in a Saturday interview with the Associated Press that Yemen’s Armed Forces show no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea even as more nations join the international maritime mission to protect vessels in the vital waterway.