US ‘considering all appropriate responses’ as ships are caught in Red Sea missile attack
The US says three commercial ships have been attacked by missiles in the Red Sea – with one of its destroyers shooting down armed drones as it went to help.
The Bahamas-flagged Unity Explorer, owned by a British company, was one of the vessels targeted in the drone and missile assault on Sunday and suffered minor damage, US military Central Command said.
The attacks happened near Yemen and Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility, saying they would stop Israeli-linked ships passing while the war in Gaza is ongoing.
Israel said the ships are not connected to the country.
It potentially marks a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
US Central Command said the attacks had been “fully enabled by Iran”, adding that the US would “consider all appropriate responses”.
“These attacks represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security,” it said in a statement.
“They have jeopardised the lives of international crews representing multiple countries around the world.
“We also have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran.”
US Central Command said all the ships attacked were in international waters and that the USS Carney went to help after receiving distress calls and shot down three drones.
The first attack was at about 9.15am local time, when the Carney detected a missile fired from Yemen towards the cargo ship M/V Unity Explorer.
The missile landed “in the vicinity of the vessel”, according to the US, which said the ship is “UK-owned and operated” and has crew from two countries – which it didn’t name.
At about 12pm, the American ship shot down a drone – again launched from Houthi areas of Yemen. The US said it was headed towards the Carney but that its final target was unclear.
“We cannot assess at this time whether the Carney was a target of the UAVs,” said US Central Command.
The US said one missile missed The M/V Unity Explorer but another hit the ship. Pic: ML Jacobs/ MarineTraffic.com
About half an hour later, the M/V Unity Explorer was attacked by a second missile – which this time hit the ship and caused “minor damage”, according to the US.
While assessing the damage, another drone was detected and shot down by the USS Carney.
The second vessel attacked was another large cargo ship, M/V Number 9, described as “Bermuda and UK owned and operated”, at about 3.30pm.
It was also hit by a missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, said Central Command – which posted the timeline on X, formerly Twitter – and said no damage or casualties were reported.
The third ship attacked was the M/V Sophie II – which was hit by a missile and sent a distress call at about 4.30pm.
USS Carney shot down a third drone “headed in its direction” as it went to help, said US Central Command.
It said the M/V Sophie II had a crew from eight countries and was a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier.
The Number 9 reported some damage with the Sophie II suffering no significant damage, according to Central Command.
Houthi spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, claimed responsibility for attacking the Unity Explorer and M/V Number 9.
He claimed they were targeted after rejected warnings from its navy.
Brigadier Yahya Saree, Houthi military spokesperson. Pic: AP
“The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red Sea (and the Gulf of Aden) until the Israeli aggression against our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip stops,” he said.
“The Yemeni armed forces renew their warning to all Israeli ships or those associated with Israelis that they will become a legitimate target if they violate what is stated in this statement.”
The Houthis are an ally of Iran and control most of Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
They have previously fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel and vowed to target more Israeli vessels.
Last month, an Israeli-linked cargo ship was seized by Houthi militants.
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An Israel Defence Forces spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the ships attacked had no connection to Israel.
Speaking before the US statement, he said missiles had been fired at two commercial vessels and one was “significantly damaged”.
“It is in distress and apparently is in danger of sinking, and another ship was lightly damaged,” he said.
The moment could have felt so different. It should have felt so different.
It was supposed to come a long time ago, and it was supposed to be the outcome of a peace process, of reconciliation, of understanding, of coexistence and of healing.
If it had happened the right way, then we’d be celebrating two states living alongside each other, coexisting, sharing a capital city.
As it happened: France recognises Palestinian state
Destroyed buildings in Gaza, as seen from Israeli side of the border.
Pic: Reuters
Instead, the recognition of Palestine as a state comes out of the rubble of Gaza.
It has come as a last-ditch effort to save all vanishing chances of a Palestinian state.
Essentially, the countries which have recognised Palestine here at the UN in New York are jumping to the endpoint and hope to now fill in the gaps.
Those gaps are huge.
Even before the horror of the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, there was almost no realistic prospect of a two-state solution.
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Two-state solution in ‘profound peril’
Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and Benjamin Netanyahu’s divide-and-conquer strategy for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza had made reconciliation increasingly hard.
The Hamas attack set back what little hope there was even further, while settlement expansion by the Israelis in the West Bank accelerated since then.
An updated map of Israel and Palestine on the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office website after the UK recognised the state of Palestine
The same questions which have made all this so intractable remain.
How to share a capital city? Who controls Jerusalem’s Old City, where the holy sites are located? If it’s shared, then how?
What happens to the settlements in the West Bank? If land swaps take place, then where? What happens to Gaza? Who governs the Palestinians?
And how are the moderates on both sides emboldened to dominate the discourse and the policy?
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Two-state solution ‘encourages terrorism’
Hope rests with Trump
Right now, Palestinian extremism is holding out in Gaza with the hostages, and Israeli extremism is dominant on the other side, with Netanyahu now threatening to fully annex the West Bank as a reaction to the recognition declarations at the UN.
It all feels pretty bleak and desperate. If there is cause for some hope, it rests with Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is the only man who can influence Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu (below). Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
Over the next 24 hours in New York, he will meet key Arab and Muslim leaders from the Middle East and Asia to present his latest plan for peace in Gaza.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan will all participate in the meeting.
Delegates applaud after Emmanuel Macron announced France’s recognition of a state of Palestine. Pic: AP
They will listen to his plan, some may offer peacekeeping troops (a significant development if they do), some may offer to provide funding to rebuild the strip and, crucially, all are likely to tell him that his Abraham Accords plan – to forge ahead with diplomatic normalisation between Muslim nations and Israel – will not happen if Israel pushes ahead with any West Bank annexation.
Netanyahu will address the UN at the end of the week, before travelling to the White House on Monday, where he will tell Trump what he plans to do next in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Read more from Sky News:
Typhoon brings 183mph winds as thousands evacuated
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If Trump wants his Abraham Accords to expand and not collapse – and remember the accords represent a genuine diplomatic game changer for the region, one Trump is rightly proud of – then he will force Netanyahu to stop in Gaza and stop in the West Bank.
He is the only man in the world who can.
World
Israel is increasingly ostracised – and no matter how strong its army, it’s not a good place to be
Emmanuel Macron was in his element. Touring the UN’s main hall, hugging fellow leaders before taking to the podium.
He was here to make history. France, the country that carved up the Middle East over a hundred years ago along with Britain, finally giving the Palestinians what they believe is long overdue.
As it happened: France recognises Palestinian state
Yvette Cooper witnessed the event looking on. Her prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, did the same over the weekend. Foregoing such hallowed surroundings, he beat the French to it by a day.
“Peace is much more demanding, much more difficult than all wars,” said Macron, “but the time has come.”
There were cheers as he recognised the state of Palestine.
The time for what? Not for peace that is for sure. The war in Gaza rages and the West Bank simmers with settler violence against Palestinians.
The French and British believe Israel is actively working against the possibility of a Palestinian state. Attacks on Palestinians, land seizures, the relentless pace of settlement construction is finishing off the chances of a two-state solution to the conflict, so time for unilateral action they believe.
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Could UK recognition of Palestinian state affect US relationship?
Without the horizon of a state of their own, Palestinians will resort to more and more extreme means.
The Israelis say they have already done so on 7 October and this move only rewards the wicked extremism of Hamas.
But the Netanyahu government has undeniably sought to divide and weaken the Palestinians and has always opposed a Palestinian state.
Israel still has the support of Donald Trump, but opinion polls suggest even in America public sentiment is moving against them. That shift will be hard to reverse.
Read more:
Will Trump force Netanyahu’s hand?
More than three quarters of the UN’s member nations now recognise a state of Palestine, four out of five of the security council’s permanent members.
The move is hugely problematic. Where exactly is the state, what are its borders, will it now be held to account for its extremists, who exactly is its government?
But more and more countries believe it had to happen. That leaves Israel increasingly ostracised and for a small country in a difficult neighbourhood that is not a good place to be, however strong it is militarily.
China will evacuate 400,000 people over a super typhoon that slammed into the Philippines and Taiwan today.
Super Typhoon Ragasa, which is heading to southeastern China, has sustained winds of 134mph.
Thousands of people have already been evacuated from homes and schools in the Philippines and Taiwan, with hundreds of thousands more to leave their homes in China.
Filipino forecasters said it slammed into Panuitan Island off Cagayan province with gusts of up to 183mph on Monday.
More than 8,200 were evacuated to safety in Cagayan while 1,220 fled to emergency shelters in Apayao, which is prone to flash floods and landslides.
The projected route of Super Typhoon Ragasa, by the Japanese Typhoon Centre. Pic: Japan Meteorological Agency
Domestic flights were suspended in northern provinces hit by the typhoon, and fishing boats and inter-island ferries were prohibited from leaving ports over rough seas.
In Taiwan’s southern Taitung and Pingtung counties, closures were ordered in some coastal and mountainous areas along with the Orchid and Green islands.
Officials in southern Chinese tech hub, Shenzhen, said they planned to relocate around 400,000 people including people in low-lying and flood-prone areas.
Strong waves batter Basco, Batanes province, northern Philippines, on Monday. (AP Photo/Justine Mark Pillie Fajardo)
Shenzhen’s airport added it will halt flights from Tuesday night.
In Fujian province, on China’s southeast coast, 50 ferry routes were suspended.
According to China’s National Meteorological Centre, the typhoon will make landfall in the coastal area between Shenzhen city and Xuwen county in Guangdong province on Wednesday.
The International Space Station captures the eye of Typhoon Ragasa. (Pic: NASA/Reuters)
A tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 115mph or higher is categorised in the Philippines as a super typhoon.
The term was adopted years ago to demonstrate the urgency tied to extreme weather disturbances.
Ragasa was heading west and was forecast to remain in the South China Sea until at least Wednesday while passing south of Taiwan and Hong Kong, before landfall on the China mainland.
The Philippines’ weather agency warned there was “a high risk of life-threatening storm surge with peak heights exceeding three metres within the next 24 hours over the low-lying or exposed coastal localities” of the northern provinces of Cagayan, Batanes, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.
Power was cut out on Calayan island and in the entire northern mountain province of Apayao, west of Cagayan, disaster officials said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from Ragasa, which is known locally in the Philippines as Nando.
On Monday, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr suspended government work and all classes on Monday in the capital, Manila, and 29 provinces in the main northern Luzon region.
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