WorthyNews: Fire Put Out At British Oil Tanker After Houthi Strike

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Worthy News) – A fire raging at a British-managed oil tanker in the Red Sea that was hit in a missile strike launched by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen has been put out, officials say.

Yet the attack on the Marlin Luanda further complicated the Red Sea crisis caused by the Houthis’ anger over Israel’s decision to launch a war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group attacked the Jewish nation on October 7.

The targeted tanker reportedly carried Russian-produced naphtha, a flammable oil, drawing Moscow further into an armed conflict that it had blamed on the United States and its allies.

As the Marlin Luanda burned, the U.S. military conducted a strike against a Houthi anti-ship missile early Saturday that was also aimed at the Red Sea and prepared to launch, the U.S. Central Command said.

That attack came after the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, had to shoot down a Houthi missile targeting it, U.S. officials explained.

The Marlin Luanda burned for hours in the Gulf of Aden until being extinguished Saturday, said Trafigura, a Singapore-based trading firm.

Its crew of 25 Indian nationals and two Sri Lankans tackled the blaze sparked by the missile strike, it said. The blast injured no one, it added.

HOUTHIS CONFIRMATION

The announcement followed Yemen’s Houthis’ confirmation on Friday that their naval forces targeted “the British oil tanker Marlin Luanda” in the Gulf of Aden, causing a fire to break out.

They used “a number of appropriate naval missiles; the strike was direct,” the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sare’e said in a statement monitored by Worthy News.

He said the attack was carried out “In vindication of the oppressed Palestinian people and support and solidarity with our brothers in the Gaza Strip.” It was also “within the response to the American-British aggression against our country,” the spokesman added.

Amid a rapid escalation, Chinese officials asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis or risk harming business relations with Beijing, Iranian sources said.

The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and Iran reportedly occurred at several recent meetings in Beijing and Tehran, Iranian sources said.

“Basically, China says: ‘If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran. So tell the Houthis to show restraint,” said one Iranian official briefed on the talks, told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.

China, which maintains close ties with Russia, is also concerned about the consequences of the Read Sea attacks on Asian trade as the tanker over the weekend was carrying its Russian naphtha cargo to Singapore.

The post Fire Put Out At British Oil Tanker After Houthi Strike appeared first on Worthy Christian News.

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