The US military says it was responding to a second attack on the same vessel near Yemen in 24 hours.

The US Navy has destroyed Houthi “small boats” attempting to board a container ship in the Red Sea.

Four vessels from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen fired upon the Maersk Hangzhou and got to within metres of the ship, the US military said.

Helicopters from nearby US warships responded to a distress call and after being fired upon, sunk three of them “in self-defence”.

The crews were killed and the fourth boat fled the area.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November.

  • @ZapBeebz_@lemmy.worldEnglish
    -10•1 year ago

    The one surefire way to trigger an overwhelming US military response is to shoot down one of our helos. So unless they want the entire Somali Yemeni coast glassed (which, to be fair, they might as part of a larger geopolitical strategy), they would have to be very stupid to shoot at a USN helicopter.

    ETA: corrected location; my bad

          • @Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5•1 year ago

            I don’t know, any national government that encourages chants such as “Death to America” and has been attacking Americans since the late 70s isn’t very high on my friend list. They also have been supplying Russia with military aid against Ukraine, so fuck Iran.

            Iran also let a couple of long range drones off the chain last week and attacked some random shipping near India in the Arabian Sea. They don’t seem like the best of neighbors even to nominally neutral countries. But hey maybe random acts of violence are your thing.

            If you have no issues with Iran perhaps you should go visit and report back on what you find. It would be great to get an independent opinion.

            I’m sure you would make some great YouTube content. Just don’t be a pussy and ask for rescue if your trip goes south. I’d like to see you fully commit to this one.