Breaking News: The British Ministry of Defence announces the deployment of an “advanced” destroyer to the Red Sea and the withdrawal of another that has been subjected to three attacks.

NYN | News

On Monday evening, the British Ministry of Defence announced the deployment of the destroyer “HMS Duncan” to the Red Sea to replace the destroyer “HMS Diamond,” which had been subjected to several attacks by forces of the Sana’a government.

In a statement published on its official website, monitored and translated by “New Yemen News,” the British Ministry of Defence stated: “The destroyer HMS Duncan has been sent to the Red Sea to replace the destroyer HMS Diamond, which has been protecting shipping lanes from Houthi attacks since before Christmas.”

The statement added that the latest destroyer was sent because it has more advanced defensive systems than its predecessor, which has been withdrawn from the Red Sea.

On February 6, the British newspaper The Independent revealed that HMS Diamond had been subjected to three separate attacks from Yemen.

Additionally, at the end of January, the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph reported a British defense source saying that the destroyer “HMS Diamond,” stationed in the Red Sea, did not join retaliatory strikes on targets of the Sana’a government forces because it lacked the “capability to fire at land targets.”

Since late last year, the forces of the Sana’a government have been targeting Israeli ships and those associated with them in the Red and Arabian Seas, before announcing that their operations would extend to parts of the Indian Ocean. Recently, they announced the beginning of the fourth phase of escalation against ships “up to the Mediterranean” in support of Palestinians in Gaza. They stated that their operations against “Israel” would continue until the latter stops its genocide in Gaza and lifts the blockade.

In response, the United States and the United Kingdom launched airstrikes on Yemen, prompting the forces of the Sana’a government to declare that their operations would include targeting American and British commercial and military ships in retaliation for what they termed “the American-British aggression.”

On February 19, 2024, the European Union announced the launch of a military operation named “Aspides,” led by Italy in the Red Sea, while the United States announced the launch of an operation named “Guardian of Prosperity,” both aimed at countering attacks by the Sana’a government forces against “Israel.”