Houthi Islamic terrorists attacked an oil tanker on Monday evening that was traveling in-between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
“At around 4 p.m. EST on December 11, the Motor Tanker STRINDA was attacked by what is assessed to have been an Anti-Ship Cruise Missile (ASCM) launched from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen while passing through the Bab-el-Mandeb,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “The STRINDA reported damage causing a fire on-board, but no casualties at this time.”
“There were no US ships in the vicinity at the time of the attack, but the USS MASON responded to the M/T STRINDA’s mayday call and is currently rendering assistance,” the statement added.
Private intelligence firms confirmed the attack happened before the U.S. military published its statement.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations posted an alert on Monday evening warning that a vessel had been attacked and that there were flames on board the ship.
UKMTO WARNING 004/DEC/2023-Update 001
ATTACK
Warnings-2023 (https://t.co/5An1YH0JyE)#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/Sxbsp8WV2Y
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) December 11, 2023
President Joe Biden has come under mounting pressure for not being able to muster the courage to respond to the attacks from the Houthi terrorists and other Iranian-backed Islamic terror groups in the region that have been repeatedly attacking U.S. forces in the region since October 17.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told Biden that if the U.S. does not take action against the Yemen-based Houthi terrorists, Israel will, which comes after the terrorist group has repeatedly targeted shipping vessels with ties to Israel.
Numerous U.S. defense officials told POLITICO that Biden’s approach to dealing with the situation was problematic because by trying to avoid escalation, the opposite is happening.
“Near to immediate term, where are the strikes on [Houthi] targets?” said Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA official, on social media. “Need to see this ASAP.”
Retired Vice Adm. John Miller, the former commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, told POLITICO that the U.S. was “not taking this seriously” because these attacks “have gone largely unanswered.”
“We’re not deterring anybody right now,” Miller said.
