The U.S. military announced today that Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an anti-surface ballistic missile (ASBM), possibly at the Torm Thor, a U.S.-owned and U.S.-flagged tanker, as it moved through the Gulf of Aden last Saturday night.

The launch took place at 11:45 p.m. (Sanaa time; 10:45 p.m. Greek time), however the missile missed, falling into the sea without any damage or casualties to the ship, the joint command clarified through X (the former Twitter) of the US Armed Forces responsible for the Middle East region (CENTCOM, “Central Command”).

Yesterday Sunday, the Iran-aligned Houthis announced they had targeted the Torm Thor as they continue their attacks on merchant ships in a show of “solidarity” with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

For its part, CENTCOM also reported that US forces shot down two Yemeni rebels’ one-way unmanned aerial vehicles “in lawful defense” in the airspace of the Red Sea.

The Houthis, who control almost all of northern Yemen, have been launching attacks since November 19 against commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, especially those they say are “connected” to Israel, in a sign of “solidarity” with the Palestinians. in the midst of the Israel/Hamas war.

To counter the attacks, the US, Israel’s main ally, formed a multinational coalition in December to “protect” shipping in the strategic maritime area.

And, since mid-January, the US and British armed forces have launched a series of bombings in Yemen against Houthi positions and weapons, which for their part now describe US and British ships as “legitimate targets”.

Neither the coalition, nor the bombings against Houthi positions and weapons systems in Yemen have stopped the attacks of the Yemeni rebels, who are considered close to Iran.