Sana’a is watching “the Mediterranean”: Targeting is imminent.

Reports and Analysis | Rachid Al-Haddad:

After a period of calm, military escalation has renewed in the Red Sea in the past hours. Navigational sources in Hodeidah confirmed to “Al-Akhbar” that Yemeni naval operations against US and British military ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have intensified.

However, the US Central Command only acknowledged one offensive operation that took place the day before yesterday in the Red Sea against American ships. In a statement issued yesterday morning, it stated that its forces engaged with a single drone.

What’s noteworthy is that according to multiple sources, Sanaa forces affirm that their military operations, carried out by drones, involve at least four drones in a single attack.

What the US Navy hides in its daily reports was revealed by Admiral Vassilios Grikaris, commander of the European Operation “Aspides,” in an interview with the German magazine “Der Spiegel,” confirming that Yemeni forces’ attacks have become more intense than ever. He pointed out that these forces use a tactic of swarm drone attacks, causing confusion in naval forces and rendering them unable to protect commercial ships, as these swarms occupy the modern defense systems on warships, causing them to fail in protecting commercial vessels.

In a related context, the “British Maritime Trade Operations” revealed in a statement yesterday that it received a report of two explosions on a commercial cargo ship about 82 nautical miles off the coast in the Gulf of Aden.

The agency confirmed that no casualties were recorded among the ship’s crew, and the identity of the ship was not disclosed.

Escalation renewed in the Red Sea after days of calm

In recent days, following Sanaa’s announcement of expanding its operations from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, the US Navy has been preventing the movement of commercial ships from crossing the international maritime passage in the Red Sea.

According to a knowledgeable maritime source, several ships that were granted permission by Sanaa to pass safely were prevented by the Americans from crossing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait without justification, especially as military operations in the Red Sea witnessed a significant decrease in the past few days.

Sources indicated that the United States intends to redeploy the aircraft carrier “USS Eisenhower” to the Red Sea after it was withdrawn late last month. It was revealed that its withdrawal was for routine maintenance and replenishing its ammunition stock, despite receiving multiple air reinforcements over the past months.

“Ike” returns accompanied by the USS Carney, which crossed the Suez Canal the evening before last, on its way back to the Red Sea. Observers expect escalation to return to its high levels, and they do not rule out Washington intensifying operations in the Red Sea in an attempt to defend supply lines to the Israeli entity, especially oil and gas supplies that Sanaa places as targets for its future operations in the Mediterranean.

A knowledgeable military source in Sanaa told “Al-Akhbar” that Washington’s redeployment of “Eisenhower” represents a new opportunity for Yemeni naval forces to carry out humiliating attacks against the US Navy in the Red Sea, ruling out any impact of these attacks on Sanaa’s upcoming military operations in the Mediterranean.

In light of Sanaa’s linking of its latest operations, following its transition to the fourth stage of escalation, with the Israeli attack on Rafah, sources close to the Ansar Allah movement revealed to “Al-Akhbar” that Yemeni forces have begun days ago a precise monitoring operation of ships heading to ports of the entity located in the Mediterranean, indicating that this step usually precedes targeting.

Days after Sanaa called on international shipping companies to stop maritime transport operations to the entity’s ports in the Mediterranean, the German shipping giant “Hapag-Lloyd” announced the suspension of its maritime operations in the Middle East the day before yesterday, after having halted its operations in the Red Sea months ago.

In the same context, the British security maritime company “Ambrey” called on ships heading to Israel to immediately withhold information and destinations.

Source: Al-Akhbar Newspaper