U.S. Central Command reported that overnight last night, U.S. forces struck a Houthi anti-ship missile aimed into the Red Sea and which was prepared to launch. This followed an earlier statement that a Houthi missile hit the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker M/V Marlin Luanda while it was underway in the Gulf of Aden.
“Yemeni naval forces carried out a targeting operation on the British oil ship (Marlin Luanda) In the Gulf of Aden, using a number of appropriate naval missiles, the strike was direct, and resulted the burning of the vessel,” Ansarallah said in a statement carried by Saba News. “Yemeni Armed Forces persist with their military operations: enforcing a blockade on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian seas until a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza, and food and medicine are allowed in to the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
But the attack on the Marlin Luanda was not the beginning of the events of the day. Hours earlier, Centcom reported that the USS Carney shot down a Houthi missile flying “towards” it, stopping just short of saying that the Carney was directly targeted. According to AP, the Houthis said they targeted the U.S. ship.
