The US military says it was responding to a second attack on the same vessel near Yemen in 24 hours.

The US Navy has destroyed Houthi “small boats” attempting to board a container ship in the Red Sea.

Four vessels from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen fired upon the Maersk Hangzhou and got to within metres of the ship, the US military said.

Helicopters from nearby US warships responded to a distress call and after being fired upon, sunk three of them “in self-defence”.

The crews were killed and the fourth boat fled the area.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November.

  • rbesfeEnglish
    616·
    1 year ago

    I honestly feel a little bad for these pirates, imagine being so deluded and uneducated that you think shooting at a US navy helicopter is a good idea

    • Ashyr@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1926·
      1 year ago

      Imagine being so desperate. I don’t have sympathy for their actions, but let’s not pretend we’d fair any better under similar circumstances.

      • DoomBot5@lemmy.worldEnglish
        455·
        1 year ago

        These aren’t the normal Somali pirates we’ve seen in previous years. These are Iran-backed terrorists following orders.

        • kool_newt@lemm.eeEnglish
          33·
          1 year ago

          Imagine being screwed over by the U.S. for decades and now their puppet is genociding your brothers. Not everyone is ok with sitting and waiting their turn to be destroyed. I back the people, never the governments.

    • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      616·
      1 year ago

      The one surefire way to trigger an overwhelming US military response is to shoot down one of our helos. So unless they want the entire Somali Yemeni coast glassed (which, to be fair, they might as part of a larger geopolitical strategy), they would have to be very stupid to shoot at a USN helicopter.

      ETA: corrected location; my bad

            • Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.worldEnglish
              5·
              1 year ago

              I don’t know, any national government that encourages chants such as “Death to America” and has been attacking Americans since the late 70s isn’t very high on my friend list. They also have been supplying Russia with military aid against Ukraine, so fuck Iran.

              Iran also let a couple of long range drones off the chain last week and attacked some random shipping near India in the Arabian Sea. They don’t seem like the best of neighbors even to nominally neutral countries. But hey maybe random acts of violence are your thing.

              If you have no issues with Iran perhaps you should go visit and report back on what you find. It would be great to get an independent opinion.

              I’m sure you would make some great YouTube content. Just don’t be a pussy and ask for rescue if your trip goes south. I’d like to see you fully commit to this one.