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The amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall and amphibious assault ship USS Bataan transit the Bab al-Mandeb strait in August.Credit:AP

The fourth boat fled the area,said the statement on social media platform X.

Danish shipping company Maersk confirmed that the crew onboard Maersk Hangzhou had reported a flash on deck early on Sunday (AEDT),when the vessel was 55 nautical miles south-west of Al Hodeidah in Yemen.

The crew was safe and there was no indication of fire onboard the vessel that was fully manoeuvrable and continued its journey north to Port Suez,Maersk said.

Yemen’s Houthi fighters’ takeover of a container ship in the Red Sea coast off Hudaydah in November.Credit:Getty

The attack on the ship prompted Maersk to pause all sailing through the Red Sea for 48 hours,the company said.

It was the latest by Houthi militants in Yemen,who have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza.

The attacks have disrupted world trade,with major shipping companies taking the longer and costlier route around the Africa’s Cape of Good Hope rather than through the Suez Canal.

The Red Sea is the entry point for ships using the Suez Canal,which handles about 12 per cent of global trade and vital for the movement of goods between Asia and Europe.

The United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian on December 19,saying more than 20 countries had agreed to participate in the efforts to safeguard ships in Red Sea waters near Yemen.

Preemptive strike

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby declined to say what options the US is considering when asked on ABC’sGood Morning America if Washington would consider a preemptive strike on the Houthis.

“We have made it clear publicly to the Houthis,we’ve made it clear privately to our allies and partners in the region,that we take these threats seriously.”

Writing in theDaily Telegraph newspaper,British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said:“We are willing to take direct action,and we won’t hesitate to take further action to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.”

“The Houthis should be under no misunderstanding:we are committed to holding malign actors accountable for unlawful seizures and attacks,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday,British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he had told Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in a call that Iran should help stop the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

The BIMCO shipping association condemned the attacks and thanked those states involved in repelling them.

“We are thankful to US,French,and UK efforts so far and hope even more states will support the coalition with naval assets or other impactful means including diplomatic pressure on the Houthis and their sponsors,” Jakob Larsen,BIMCO’s head of maritime safety and security,told Reuters.

Reuters

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