152
submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

The US Navy has destroyed Houthi "small boats" attempting to board a container ship in the Red Sea.

Four vessels from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen fired upon the Maersk Hangzhou and got to within metres of the ship, the US military said.

Helicopters from nearby US warships responded to a distress call and after being fired upon, sunk three of them "in self-defence".

The crews were killed and the fourth boat fled the area.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November.

all 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 55 points 9 months ago

I honestly feel a little bad for these pirates, imagine being so deluded and uneducated that you think shooting at a US navy helicopter is a good idea

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 7 points 9 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The Iranian-backed Yemeni rebel group have claimed its attacks on the vital shipping lane are directed at vessels linked to Israel, in response to the war in Gaza.

The four Houthi boats attacked at around 06:30 Yemeni time (03:30 GMT) with mounted weapons and small arms, getting to within 20m (66ft) of the container ship, which the crew "attempted to board".

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation reported an incident in the Red Sea about 55 nautical miles (101km) to the south-west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

The rise in Houthi attacks over several weeks has led many shipping firms, including Maersk, to divert their vessels away from the Red Sea, travelling around the horn of Africa instead.

To reach the Suez Canal in Egypt - which connects to the Mediterranean Sea - ships must pass through the tiny Bab al-Mandab Strait, just off the coast of Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.

Maersk said last week that it was preparing to resume journeys through Red Sea - after diverting to the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope because of recent Houthi attacks on shipping.


The original article contains 769 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
152 points (98.7% liked)

World News

38790 readers
3202 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS