Dubai, United Arab Emirates– International forces deployed to protect shipping in the Red Sea were responding to reports of drone activity off the western coast of Yemen early Wednesday, a British maritime security agency said.
The agency, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), said the incident had taken place about 50 nautical miles west of the Yemeni port of Hodeida.
“Multiple reports of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) activity,” UKMTO said in a bulletin. “Coalition forces are responding, no injuries or damage reported.”
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen have launched more than 100 drone and missile attacks on targets in Israel and the Red Sea, disrupting traffic in the key shipping route.
The rebels say they are acting in support of Hamas, targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels to push for a stop to the war in the Gaza Strip.
The US Navy, however, has said that ships targeted in the attacks have connections to more than 50 countries.
In response to the attacks, the United States set up a multinational naval task force last month to defend shipping interests in the vital waterway, which carries up to 12 percent of global trade.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, which left around 1,140 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Vowing to destroy the group, Israel launched a relentless bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza that have killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
