The US military announced early on Sunday that the Houthis attacked a Chinese oil tanker with ballistic missiles on Saturday, hitting one of the ships off the coast of Yemen, where attacks by Iran-backed rebels against commercial vessels are increasing.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on the X platform that the vessel Huangpu, flying the Panamanian flag and owned and operated by China, issued a distress call but did not request assistance.
The statement added: “There were no reports of injuries, and the ship has resumed its course.”
Iran-backed rebels, who control a large part of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, have launched dozens of missile and drone attacks against commercial ships over the past four months in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is waging war against Hamas.
CENTCOM and the British Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a fire broke out on board the ship, but was extinguished within 30 minutes.
Later, the marine traffic monitoring site “Marine Traffic” reported that the ship had left the Red Sea for the Gulf of Aden, according to the maritime security company “Ambrey”, heading to its next destination, the port of New Mangalore in India.
The attack occurred 23 nautical miles west of the city of Mokha, according to UKMTO, while no party has yet claimed responsibility.
CENTCOM said the Houthi rebels launched 4 anti-ship ballistic missiles towards the Red Sea near the Huangpu ship, before hitting it with a fifth missile.
It pointed out that “the Houthis attacked the ship MV Huangpu despite their earlier statements that they would not attack Chinese ships.”
According to “Ambrey”, registration data, including the name of the carrier and its operator, was changed in February.
The company added that the ship was registered in 2019 under the name “Union Maritime Ltd”, a British company, explaining that a ship belonging to this company had previously been attacked by the Houthis.
The rebels close to Iran, who control a wide part of Yemen, have escalated their attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November.
Initially, the Houthis announced the targeting of ships linked to Israel, but they expanded their targets to include ships linked to the United States and Britain, after strikes carried out by both countries against their sites in Yemen.
The US military, which says it is defending freedom of navigation in the main corridor of global trade, announced on Friday that it had carried out “self-defense strikes against three underground storage facilities belonging to the Houthis in areas controlled by the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthis in Yemen.”
According to US Central Command in the Middle East (CENTCOM), the US military also destroyed 4 drones on Friday, and on the same day, the Houthis were observed launching 4 anti-ship ballistic missiles towards the Red Sea.
