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Det indiske flåde har indsat tre missil-destroyere i Det Arabiske Hav som en reaktion på et formodet droneangreb på et kemitankskib med forbindelse til Israel i sidste uge. New Delhi regeringen har også indsat langtrækkende maritime patruljefly til overvågning af domæneaktivitet, rapporterede forsvarsministeriet mandag aften. Lørdag blev MV Chem Pluto, et tankskib under liberisk flag og ejet af Japan, som sejlede 370 km fra Indiens kyst, angiveligt ramt af en selvmordsdrone, oplyser Pentagon.
Baggrund
Even as Washington has threatened increased intervention in waters off Yemen, these Houthis attacks have only increased.
The Yemeni rebel group has declared war on any vessel linked to Israel, or bound for Israeli ports. Tuesday’s attack follows fresh weekend incidents as well, described in the WSJ as follows:
The U.S. Navy said late Saturday that two more vessels had been attacked that day by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, bringing the number of commercial ships attacked near a crucial passageway between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East to 15. The Pentagon said earlier in the day that a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was struck by a drone launched directly from Iran, a claim Tehran denied.
The shipping attacks are part of a broader regional confrontation between Iran’s allies and the U.S. and Israel, and are increasing. A declassified document from the Defense Department shows Houthi attacks on ships escalated during the first half of December to eight incidents, compared with just three during the last half of November.
Several allies have meanwhile refused to join the US-led naval coalition…
US officials have long alleged that Iranian intelligence is complicit in these attacks. Both Israel and the US have said Tehran uses a spy ship that patrols the Red Sea to assist with Houthi targeting. Through this weekend, there have been over a dozen confirmed attacks on commercial ships this month alone. The US has said more than 100 drones and rockets have been launched over the last two months in repeat incidents.
U.S. Central Command reported that F/A-18 Super Hornets from the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group had a busy Tuesday.
However, Iran has rejected these allegations but has still openly encouraged ‘resistance’ to what it calls the forces of “Zionism.”
