Houthi Missile Attacks Damage Ship in the Red Sea

Missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militias twice damaged a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned ship Tuesday in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.

The Houthis have launched a number of attacks targeting ships over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The first attack on the bulk carrier Laax happened off the port city of Hodeidah in the southern Red Sea, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links it to the Gulf of Aden, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. The vessel “sustained damage” in the assault and later reported an “impact in the water in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO said.

“The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” the center said.

The private security firm Ambrey said the vessel reported by radio of having “sustained damage to the cargo hold and was taking on water.”

Late Tuesday night, the UKMTO reported the Laax “sustained further damage” in a second missile attack near Mokha in the Bab el-Mandeb.

The US military’s Central Command also identified the targeted ship as the Laax.

“Iranian-backed Houthis launched five anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Red Sea,” it said.

The ship “reported being struck by three of the missiles, but continued its voyage,” USCENTCOM added.

Central Command separately said it destroyed five Houthi drones over the Red Sea amid the attacks.

“It was determined the systems presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels in the region,” it added.

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France will host a meeting on Syria with Arab, Turkish, western partners in January, said France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday.

The meeting will be a follow-up to the one held in Jordan last week.

Speaking in parliament, Barrot added that reconstruction aid and the lifting of sanctions in Syria would depend on clear political and security commitments by the new authorities.

The new Syrian transition authorities will not be judged on words, but on actions over time, he stressed.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed that the transition in Syria should be respectful of the rights of all communities in the country, the French presidency said after the leaders spoke by phone on Wednesday.

"They expressed their wish that a peaceful and representative political transition, in accordance with the principles of resolution 2254, respectful of the fundamental rights of all communities in Syria, be conducted as soon as possible," an Elysee statement said, referring to a United Nations Security Council resolution.

Barrot added that fighting in northeastern Syrian cities of Manbij and Kobane must stop immediately.

France is working to find deal between Turks and Kurds in Syria’s northeast that meets interests of both sides, he revealed.

Macron made clear in his call with Erdogan that Kurdish Syrians needed to be fully-integrated in political transition process, continued the FM.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces must be part of the political transition process, he urged.

Houthi Missile Attacks Damage Ship in the Red Sea