The Iranian-backed Houthis are continuing their rampage against ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Today they hit a chemical tanker which a drone attack, starting a fire aboard the ship.
Chem Pluto is reported to be affiliated with Israel, but the tanker was neither coming from nor headed to the Jewish state.
Here’s more from Times of Israel:
A drone strike damaged a ship off the coast of India on Saturday but caused no casualties, two maritime agencies said, with one reporting the merchant vessel was linked to Israel.
Jerusalem believes Tehran was directly behind the attack, according to Hebrew media Saturday.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike, which comes amid a flurry of drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis have launched more than 100 drone and missile attacks, targeting 10 merchant vessels in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said Friday, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling the Hamas terror group following its October 7 massacre in Israel, when terrorists killed 1,200 people, a majority civilians, and took some 240 hostages.
The assault Saturday caused a fire on board, said the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO.
Ambrey, a maritime security firm, said the “Liberia-flagged chemical/products tanker… was Israel-affiliated” and had been on its way from Saudi Arabia to India.
The incident on the chemical product tanker occurred 120 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of the Indian port of Veraval, said Ambrey. It gave no further details about the vessel’s alleged Israeli links.
Ambrey said the drone attack struck the stern and caused a fire onboard that was later extinguished without any casualties among the crew. The firm said the vessel suffered some structural damage and some water was taken onboard.
The Indian news agency ANI identified the tanker as MV Chem Pluto carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia. Citing Indian defense sources, ANI said the tanker had around 20 Indian nationals on board. Multiple shipping sites describe Chem Pluto as being owned by a Japan-based firm.
I thought he entire point of this international coalition was supposed to protect these ships. This is just another reason why this coalition must go on the offense to stop the Houthis from threatening international commerce.
As Eli Lake said today…
Forget sanctioning the Houthis. Why hasn’t the US Navy leveled their military bases yet? And if Iran resupplies, destroy the Iranian navy too. You can’t let this two bit militia disrupt global trade. Enough already.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) December 23, 2023