Houthi spokeswoman Yahya Sarea said in a statement on January 27 that the group fired multiple missiles at the Marin Luanda, a British oil tanker sailing in the Gulf of Aden, and that the tanker caught fire after being hit. The Houthis will "use all possible military means to protect Yemen and support the Palestinian people."
The British Office of Maritime Trade Action admitted on the same day that a merchant ship was hit by a missile and caught fire about 111 kilometers southwest of the southern Yemeni port city of Aden. The crew of the ship has requested emergency rescue.
In the pictures published on the Internet, it can be clearly seen that the oil tanker "Marin Luanda" is in flames, and a large amount of smoke is rising. Trafigura said in a statement that after several hours of firefighting work, the fire on the tanker has been extinguished, the crew is safe, and the tanker is now heading to a safe port.
When the oil tanker Marin Luanda was hit by a Houthi missile, blazing and emitting thick smoke, the British Royal Navy's Type 45 air defense destroyer D-34 Diamond, which was involved in the Pentagon-led "Prosperity Guardian" escort coalition, was next to the tanker and witnessed the tanker being hit by a missile fired by the Houthis and burning.
This means that when the Houthis launched a missile attack on the tanker of the British Trafigura Group, one of the world's largest metal and oil traders, the "Diamond" air defense destroyer, which was on escort duty, either failed to detect and lock on the incoming missile, or failed to intercept the "Sea Viper" air defense missile system on board.
Even though the Houthis have been hit several times by the United States and Britain with Tomahawk cruise missiles and Paveway laser-guided bombs, they have not succumbed to air strikes, saying that Israeli, American and British ships are within range of their missiles and drones.
The Houthis have repeatedly demanded that Israel end its military operations in the Gaza Strip and implement UN Security Council resolutions to open humanitarian corridors and provide food, drinking water and medical care to the people of affected Gaza.
However, Israel has not ceased its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, and the humanitarian crisis in Palestine continues. The United States and Britain participated in the "Prosperity Guardian" escort alliance and also carried out several air strikes against the Houthis. The strike on the ships of the United States and Britain passing through the Red Sea is a military counterattack by the Houthis.
Britain's influence in Europe has plummeted since Brexit, and its influence in the Middle East has also deteriorated. However, on the premise that the national strength was exhausted and the naval military strength was much worse than before, it still sent a Type 45 missile destroyer to participate in the "Prosperity Guardian" alliance led by the Pentagon, and also joined hands with the US Navy and Air Force to strike at the Houthis.
Now that the oil tanker "Marin Luanda" has been bombed by missiles, the destroyer "Diamond" as an escort cannot protect the safety of its own ships, and can only watch as it is hit by anti-ship missiles of the Houthis and ignites a fire, but its own ships cannot cross the Red Sea.
It is Britain's incompetence and recklessness that has formed a bond with the Houthis. Don't underestimate the "slipper army" that wears slippers, this is not a regular military force, its intelligence system operates efficiently and accurately, and it knows exactly which country's ship it is, what type of ship it is, and what cargo it is carrying on board when it enters the Red Sea from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Each time a ship was attacked, the Houthi spokesman named which country and which vessel it was, and it turned out to be the right one. When American ships crossed the Red Sea, they were escorted by several "Ali Burke" air defense destroyers.
After witnessing the thrilling scene of the US warship intercepting missiles, the USS Maersk Detroit and the USS Maersk Chesapeake, which were flying the US flag, did not turn around and return to their home ships and fled.
So how can the British Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyer, the D-34 "Diamond", which is far inferior in tonnage and performance to the "Ali Burke"-class destroyers, be able to protect British ships from passing through the Red Sea safely in the event of a missile attack launched by the Houthis? The destroyer itself was not hit by missiles, already thank God!
If every British ship passing through the Red Sea needs this Type 45 destroyer to escort it, and it may not be able to intercept the missiles launched by the Houthis, as if the oil tanker Marin Luanda was hit, then the Red Sea is equivalent to a waste for Britain.
For the United Kingdom, which is extremely dependent on foreign trade, it will undoubtedly be a heavy blow, which will boost the high prices in the British Isles, and in the face of increasingly severe inflationary pressure, Sunak's cabinet may have a harder and harder time.