Iran-backed Houthis vow to continue targeting British ships in the Red Sea after sinking of UK-owned Rubymar vessel

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have vowed to continue attacking British ships in the Red Sea after sinking the British Rubymar, the first ship to be completely destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

The Iran-backed militia branded Britain a ‘rogue state’ and blamed Rishi Sunak for the ship’s destruction by their forces. They said his government should allow aid to Gaza if it wants to save the Rubymar.

“Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to the British bill,” Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in the Houthi-led government, said in a statement. a message on X.

“It is a rogue state that is attacking Yemen and collaborating with America in sponsoring continued crimes against civilians in Gaza.”

There are now fears that the sinking of the ship could cause an ‘environmental catastrophe’, with its cargo of 21,000 tonnes of fertilizer at risk of leaking and posing a major threat to marine life.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping since mid-November, claiming they stand in solidarity with the Palestinians against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Their attacks on the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping, forcing companies to make longer and more expensive voyages across southern Africa, and fueled fears that the war between Israel and Hamas could spread and affect the wider Middle East can destabilize.

The US and Britain began attacking Houthi targets in Yemen in January in retaliation for attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Yesterday, the US military confirmed that the Belizean-flagged Rubymar sank after being struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Yemeni Houthi militants on February 18.

The attack took place in the Strait of Bab al-Mandab, 35 nautical miles south of Al Mukha, and the boat began ‘slowly taking on water’.

The crew of the cargo ship, which is 171.6 meters long and 27 meters wide, was forced to ‘abandon ship’ after the attack.

The British Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said yesterday that all crew members are safe and that “authorities are investigating.”

The US military’s Central Command said this morning that the Rubymar sank at 2:15 a.m. local time on Saturday and released an image of the ship on its side as it was sinking.

“The approximately 21,000 tonnes of ammonium phosphate sulphate fertilizer the ship was carrying poses an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” the ship said in a statement. ‘If the ship sinks, it also poses a subsurface impact risk to other vessels traversing the waterway’s busy shipping lanes.’

Greenpeace today called for urgent emergency response, saying the shipwreck poses an “imminent danger.”

“Without immediate action, this situation could escalate into a major environmental crisis,” said Julien Jreissati, program director at Greenpeace MENA.

The ship’s hull could be seriously damaged, releasing the fertilizer and creating “cascade effects throughout the food web,” he said.

‘This disruption could have far-reaching consequences, affecting several species that depend on these ecosystems, and in turn potentially impacting the livelihoods of coastal communities.’

Yemen’s exiled, internationally recognized government, which has been backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, said the Rubymar sank on Friday afternoon as stormy weather gripped the Red Sea.

Prime Minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak also described the sinking of the ship as ‘an unprecedented environmental disaster’.

“It is a new disaster for our country and our people,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Every day we pay for the adventures of the Houthi militia, which did not lead to Yemen’s descent into coup disaster and war.”

The Houthis have controlled Yemen’s capital Sana’a since 2014 and ousted the government. The country has been fighting a Saudi-led coalition in a stalemate since 2015.

The Iran-backed Houthis, who claimed the ship sank almost immediately after the attack, did not immediately acknowledge the ship had sunk.

Many ships have already turned away from the Red Sea Route, through which much of the world’s trade passes.

The sinking of the Rubymar could lead to further diversions and higher insurance rates for ships plying the waterway, potentially driving up global inflation and affecting aid shipments to the region.

Earlier, U.S. forces attacked and destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile in Yemen on Friday after determining it posed an “imminent threat” to American aircraft, the U.S. Central Command in the Middle East said.

The Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea since November in a campaign they say shows solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

The US leads a naval coalition to protect ships in the vital waterway, and has also carried out airstrikes on Houthi territory, both alone and jointly with Britain.

On Friday afternoon, U.S. forces conducted a self-defense strike against an Iran-backed Houthi surface-to-air missile that was ready to launch, CENTCOM said in a statement, adding that it had determined (the missile) to pose an imminent threat. threat to US aircraft in the region.”

It went on to say that the Houthis launched an anti-ship missile into the Red Sea on Friday evening, but “There was no impact or damage to ships.”

US and British forces carried out strikes on 18 Houthi targets in eight locations in Yemen over the weekend, including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars and a helicopter, according to a joint statement.

One person was killed and eight wounded in the attacks, the Houthis’ official news agency said.

Since November, the rebels have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters due to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Those ships include at least one carrying cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and a relief vessel later bound for Houthi-controlled territory.

Despite more than a month of US-led airstrikes, the Houthi rebels remain capable of carrying out significant attacks.

These include the attack on the Rubymar and the downing of a US drone worth tens of millions of dollars.

The Houthis insist their attacks will continue until Israel halts its combat operations in the Gaza Strip, which have angered the broader Arab world and won the Houthis international recognition.

However, in recent days there has been a decrease in the number of attacks. The reason for this remains clear