Houthis claim attack on US ship in Gulf of Aden

SANAA: Yemeni Houthi rebels claimed early Friday they had carried out a missile attack on a US ship in the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis said in a statement posted on their social media that their “naval” forces had attacked the Chem Ranger “with several appropriate naval missiles, resulting in direct hits.”
It did not give a time or other details for the latest attack in international shipping lanes.
The specialist website Marine Traffic identified the Chem Ranger as a Marshall Islands-flagged chemical tanker sailing from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Kuwait.
British maritime risk management company Ambrey said a Marshallese chemical tanker sailing along the same route had reported a “suspicious” approach by drones.
One fell in the sea approximately 30 meters from the tanker, it added. “An Indian warship responded to the event.”
“There were no crew casualties or damage reported,” the monitor said.On Thursday, the US launched new strikes against Houthi anti-ship missiles aimed at the Red Sea, as growing tensions in the region’s sea lanes disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks that could reignite inflation.
The two Houthi anti-ship missiles targeted in the strikes were being prepared for firing into the Red Sea and deemed “an imminent threat” to shipping and US Navy vessels in the region, the US military said.
Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in and around the Red Sea since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in an escalation of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.