Houthis sent explosive drone boat towards Red Sea shipping lanes, Pentagon says

Unmanned attack vessel blew up before doing any harm

He said there have been 25 Houthi attacks since November 18 on merchant vessels transiting the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Reuters

The Houthis launched an unmanned boat packed with explosives from Yemen towards international shipping lanes in the Red Sea but it exploded before striking any vessels, a US Navy official said on Thursday.

The “one-way attack” boat was headed for shipping lanes “clearly with the intent to do harm”, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Navy operations in the Middle East, told reporters.

He described the explosive boat as a “new capability” and said it was the first time the Houthis had used an unmanned surface vessel, or USV, since their harassment of commercial ships in the Red Sea began after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, though they have used them in previous years.

The boat came within a “couple a of miles of ships”, including merchant vessels and US Navy ships.

“We all watched as it exploded” on Thursday morning, Vice Admiral Cooper said.

The incident came only hours after the US, UK, Bahrain and other nations on Wednesday demanded that Houthi rebels in Yemen halt their attacks in the Red Sea and warned of “consequences” if they continued their “destabilising” actions.

He said there have been 25 Houthi attacks since November 18 on merchant vessels transiting the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Pentagon last month formed Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new international mission focused on countering attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Vice Admiral Cooper said 1,500 commercial ships have been able to transit safely since the operation was launched on December 18.

Still, he noted that there has been no let up in attacks from Houthis.

“There are no signs [the Houthis'] irresponsible behaviour is abating,” he said.

American and British intelligence experts are gathering detailed targeting information for a potential strike on Houthi missile sites, military analysts have told The National.

Vice Admiral Cooper’s briefing was the first detailed public account by a US military official on the operation that is intended to protect shipping in the Red Sea, which normally handles about 12 per cent of the world’s commerce.

A number of major shipping operators have said they are taking a lengthier and costlier route around the southern tip of Africa to avoid the Houthi threat.