LONDON — A Royal Navy warship has shot down a suspected assault drone concentrating on industrial ships within the Red Sea, Britain’s protection secretary mentioned Saturday.
Grant Shapps mentioned that HMS Diamond fired a Sea Viper missile and destroyed a drone that was “targeting merchant shipping.” The in a single day motion is the primary time the Royal Navy has shot down an aerial goal in anger for the reason that 1991 Gulf War.
Shapps mentioned assaults on industrial ships within the international commerce artery by Yemen’s Houthi rebels “represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security.”
“The U.K. remains committed to repelling these attacks to protect the free flow of global trade,” he mentioned in an announcement.
Global delivery has turn out to be a goal through the battle between Israel and Hamas, which just like the Houthis is backed by Iran. The Houthis have launched a sequence of assaults on vessels within the Red Sea, in addition to launching drones and missiles concentrating on Israel.
Houthi rebels mentioned they fired a barrage of drones Saturday towards the port metropolis of Eilat in southern Israel. The announcement got here hours after Egypt’s state-run media reported that Egyptian air protection had shot down a “flying object” off the Egyptian resort city of Dahab on the Red Sea.
PHOTOS: Britain says a Royal Navy ship has shot down an assault drone over the Red Sea
Earlier this month, three industrial ships within the Red Sea had been struck by ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen, and a U.S. warship shot down three drones through the assault, the U.S. navy mentioned.
On Friday Maersk, the world’s greatest delivery firm, instructed all its vessels planning to cross by the Bab el-Mandeb Strait within the Red Sea to “pause their journey until further notice” after a missile assault on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship.
HMS Diamond was despatched to the area two weeks in the past as a deterrent, becoming a member of vessels from the U.S., France and different nations. ___
Associated Press author Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this story.
