Houthi Drone Hits American-Owned Ship, Causing Fire
[Updated] The UKMTO has received a report of an attack on a merchant ship at a position about 60 nautical miles southeast of the Yemeni port city of Aden, in the middle of the western Gulf of Aden.
The ship's master reported that the vessel had been hit on the port side by an aerial drone (UAV). The strike caused a fire on board, which the crew successfully extinguished. The vessel and the crew are safe, according to UKMTO, and are proceeding to their next port of call.
"Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO," the consortium advised.
Yemen's Houthi rebels have attacked shipping in the vicinity of Bab el-Mandeb dozens of times since November. In a statement on social media, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the attack and said that the vessel was the "American" bulker GENCO Picardy. The ship's owner and commercial manager is based in New York, its technical manager is located in India, and its flag registry is administered in Virginia.
"The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against the American ship (GENCO Picardy) in the Gulf of Aden with a several of adequate naval missiles [sic], leaving direct hits. The Yemeni armed forces will not hesitate to target all sources of threat in the Arab and Red Seas within the legitimate right to defend dear Yemen and to continue supporting the oppressed Palestinian people," he said.
U.S. Central Command confirmed the attack on the Picardy in a statement late Wednesday, and said that it was a single one-way attack drone originating from Yemeni territory.
GENCO Picardy's AIS signal was last received by Pole Star satellite tracking in the southern Red Sea, on the opposite side of Houthi-controlled territory from the attack location. Last week the vessel had been headed southbound towards Bab el-Mandeb, but on January 15 it doubled back to a position north of 18 N, as recommended by the U.S. Maritime Administration. At that point, its signal disappeared from tracking (image at top).
A GENCO employee declined to comment.
The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) security partnership has advised all civilian shipping to stay well clear of Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea, but the shorter Suez route remains in use for many shipping firms. Major operators like Shell, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and others have abandoned the route, and almost all container ships are diverting around the Cape of Good Hope.
[This story is evolving and will be updated as new information comes in.]
White House Re-Designates Houthis as Terrorists
The Biden administration has re-designated Yemen's Houthi rebel group as a terrorist organization, three years after lifting a Trump-era listing.
The group is now back on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entities, a lower-level designation. The Trump administration listed the group as both an SDGT and a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) shortly before Biden took office, and Biden reversed it as one of his earliest acts as president.
Houthi leaders control Yemen's most populous areas, and the aid community had called loudly for restrictions on trade with the famine-stricken country to be lifted.
At the time, the UN considered Yemen to be suffering from the world's worst humanitarian disaster. Designating the Houthi group and its officials as an FTO made it impossible to legally transact with them, and therefore difficult to move aid supplies into the country.
“The [Trump-era] designations came at a time when the country was facing an unprecedented set of catastrophes. We had famine warnings where 16 million people – that’s one in two Yemenis – were close to starvation,” Norwegian Refugee Council official Saltana Begum told Al Jazeera at the time. “There was the threat that people like myself could be criminalized or prosecuted for delivering aid.”
Biden administration officials were receptive to aid NGOs' appeals and delisted the Houthi group swiftly. Biden also ended American support for the Saudi military campaign against Houthi forces. The group holds the strategic port of Hodeidah, the country's primary seaport, as well as the longtime capital of Sanaa.
Recent events have forced the administration to reconsider. Houthi forces have attacked merchant shipping in the Red Sea dozens of times since November, claiming that they are acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Recent attacks have hit American and Greek merchant ships with no clear connection to Israel. The U.S. and the UK have hit back with airstrikes and missile strikes on Houthi positions, but have not yet succeeded in eliminating the threat. For the time being, the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and multiple maritime security firms have urged all shipping to avoid areas near Bab el-Mandeb, normally one of the busiest maritime choke points in the world.
Biden's opponents have criticized him for lifting the FTO designation in the first place, and for reimposing only the less-stringent SDGT listing.
“President Biden should have never removed the foreign terrorist organization designation. He is still bent on half-measures at every step of the way," said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), ranking membver of the Armed Services Committee. "Further Houthi attacks on commercial shipping or U.S. sailors should be met with a response that makes last week’s strike in Yemen look small in comparison."
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