The US military acted after Maersk Hangzhou was reported to have been hit by a missile as it sailed through the Southern Red Sea.

Yemen’s Houthi Rebels: Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that broke out following the latter’s attack from the southern border on October 7, the US military on Sunday announced that its forces opened fire on Houthi rebels after they attacked a cargo ship in the Red Sea killing several of them.

The Houthi rebels said to be backed by Iran, have been attacking the MVs and cargo ships passing through the Red Sea as a mark of solidarity and protest over Israel’s incessant bombardment and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 7.

The US Central Command, in a series of statements, said the crew of the USS Gravely destroyer first shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired at the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou late Saturday. It is said the US military acted after Maersk Hangzhou was reported to have been hit by a missile earlier that evening as it sailed through the Southern Red Sea.

The anti-ship ballistic missiles were allegedly fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels whose four small boats attacked the same cargo ship with small arms fire early Sunday and the rebels tried to board the vessel, said the United States Navy adding that the USS Gravely and helicopters from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier responded to the Maersk Hangzhou’s distress call and issued verbal warnings to the attackers who responded by firing on the helicopters.

“The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense,” sinking three of the four boats and killing the people on board while the fourth boat fled the area, the U.S. Central Command said. No harm to U.S. personnel or equipment, nor casualties from the cargo ship, were reported.

Meanwhile, the Houthis accredited that 10 of their fighters were killed in the clash and warned of consequences.

The Central Command said that the events surrounding the Maersk Hangzhou represented the 23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping since November 19. It was the first time the US Navy said its personnel had killed Houthi fighters since the Red Sea attacks started.

Iran-backed Houthis have for over a month claimed attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they say are either linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports. They say their attacks aim to end the Israeli air-and-ground offensive in the Gaza Strip that was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ Oct.7 attack in southern Israel. Interestingly, the links to the ships targeted in the Houthi assaults have become shaky and weak.

The Denmark-based shipping giant Maersk, owner of Maersk Hangzhou, said Sunday it would suspend shipping through the Red Sea again after the two attacks on its freighter.

“In light of the (most recent) incident — and to give time to investigate the details of the incident and assess the security situation further — it has been decided that all transits through the area will be postponed for the next 48 hours,” Maersk was quoted as saying by the Danish public broadcaster DR.

On Saturday, the top commander of U.S. naval forces in the Middle East said Houthi rebels have shown no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea even as more nations join the international maritime mission to protect vessels in the vital waterway and trade traffic begins to pick up.

The Pentagon announced Operation Prosperity Guardian to counter the attacks on ships just over 10 days ago and earlier this month, United States announced the establishment of a new international coalition to protect vessels traveling through the waterway. The United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain are part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, the maritime security mission.

There have been unconfirmed reports doing rounds on social media that United Kingdom Foreign Secretary James Cameron called Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian and they reportedly talked about “important regional developments”.

(With Associated Press inputs)