US reports a sailor was seriously injured by a Houthi rocket strike

The US military said that two cruise missiles launched by the Houthis in Yemen targeted a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, seriously injuring a sailor. According to the US Central Command (CentCom), the wounded sailor was flown to a different ship so that he could get medical attention. It also said that the MV Verbena, a ship owned by Ukraine and managed by Poland, was flying the flag of Palau. Crew members were battling a fire on board. The sailor's nationality remained undisclosed. It occurs one day after the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, assaulted a Greek-owned ship in the Red Sea and seriously flooded the inside.

"In retaliation to the crimes performed against our people in the Gaza Strip, and in the aftermath of the American-British aggression towards our country," the Houthis said they had attacked three ships in the last twenty-four hours, among them the MV Verbena. Later, CentCom said that on the previous day, it had destroyed one drone, two Houthi patrol boats, and one unmanned surface vessel over the Red Sea. "It was concluded these systems presented an imminent threat to US, forces, plus merchant vessels in the region," CentCom said in a statement.

The armed Houthi organization considers itself to be a member of the "axis of resistance" against the US, Israel, and the broader West, lead by Iran. The rebel group claims that they are supporting the Palestinians in Gaza by attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they believe are associated with Israel since November. As a result of repeated assaults by the US and the UK on Houthi sites within Yemen, the Houthis have retaliated on ships they think are connected to both nations.

"The Houthis claim to be intervening on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza and yet they are targeting as well as threatening the lives of third country nationals who have everything to do with the conflict in Gaza," CentCom said. Approximately 12% of all seaborne commerce in the world runs through the river, which many shipping firms stopped utilizing as a result of the rebels' assaults on commercial boats in the Red Sea. Tutor, a ship flying the Liberian flag, was the victim of a marine drone attack by the Houthis on Wednesday in the Red marine. There were no confirmed casualties.