The Houthi attack on the ship led to the death of people for the first time: how the United States reacted

The Houthis attacked the cargo ship True Confidence/Getty Images/Collage 24 Channel

A Houthi attack on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden resulted in the death of two crew members. This is the first time that militants have killed people in the Red Sea.

The Houthis as a whole have committed more than 45 missile and drone attacks on US and allied commercial ships in the Red Sea. Most of them were intercepted.

Death of sailors

On March 6, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at the Liberian-owned Barbados-flagged bulk carrier True Confidence, U.S. officials said. As a result, at least two people were killed and six more were injured, the crew of the ship was evacuated.

The attack took place around 11:30 Yemen time, or 10:30 Kiev time . US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the deaths were “sadly unavoidable.”

The Houthis continued to carry out these reckless attacks without paying attention to the welfare of innocent civilians who are transiting through the Red Sea, and now they have tragically killed innocent civilians,” Miller said at a department briefing.

He added that the United States will continue to hold the Houthis accountable for their attacks. The spokesman stressed that the militants had not only disrupted international trade, freedom of navigation and international waters, encroaching on security, but now they had also killed sailors.

Houthi attacks in the Red Sea: what is known

• Yemen's Houthis are militants supported by Iran. After the Hamas attack on Israel, from November 2023 they began to attack civilian ships in the Red Sea that allegedly have “connections with the Jews” and their allies – the United States and Britain.
• Recently, the Houthis resorted to new sabotage – they damaged four cables that provide global Internet and communications in the Red Sea. The incident affected 25% of traffic passing through the Red Sea lines, which connect Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
• In response to the attack, the EU agreed to launch a military operation to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks.