Explosions near ship off Yemen (UK agency)

(Keystone-ATS) Explosions were reported near a ship east of the Yemeni port city of Aden on Friday, Britain’s maritime safety agency UKMTO reported.

The agency, which does not identify the ship, specified that the explosions had occurred “near” the ship which was able to continue its journey, specifying that the crew was “safe and sound”.

The Houthis, members of the “Axis of Resistance”, a grouping of movements supported by Iran and which includes the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, have for months been carrying out attacks off the coast of Yemen against ships serving, according to them, Israel, saying it was acting in support of the Gaza Strip being bombed by the Israeli army.

These insurgents who control large swathes of Yemen say they carry out their attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with Hamas after the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil.

In response, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007. Its army launched a major offensive in Gaza which has so far killed 37,431 people, mostly civilians, according to ministry data. of Health of the local government, led by Hamas.

Israel’s first ally, Washington set up a multinational coalition in December to “protect” maritime traffic without managing to stop the attacks.

Since mid-January, the United States and the United Kingdom have carried out several strikes against rebel positions, which designated American and British ships as “legitimate targets” after initially claiming to target ships “linked to Israel ”.

The US military announced Thursday evening that it had “destroyed” four unmanned boats and two Houthi drones, and Washington called on these Yemeni rebels to release humanitarian workers arrested earlier this month.