CENTCOM: MV Rubymar sinks in the Red Sea following Houthis attack

Shafaq News/ The US Central Command announced that the MV Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier, sank in the Red Sea after being struck by an “Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist anti-ship ballistic missile on Feb. 18.”

“The ship had been slowly taking on water since the unprovoked attack.”

“The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea. As the ship sinks it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway.” CENTCOM said in a statement.

The Command considered the Houthis to pose a “heightened threat to global maritime activities.”

It is the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial shipping in November.

The Yemeni group, which controls most of Yemen, including the vital capital, Sanaa, is a key player in the region and a main part of the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance. This umbrella includes Iraqi factions, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions.

Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Gaza, the US has expressed solidarity with Tel Aviv, providing it with unconditional military, political, and financial support.

Last week, Washington used veto power to quash Algeria’s draft resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The US administration repeatedly said that it did not want the war to be expanded, especially after its interests were attacked in Iraq and Syria by the Iraqi Resistance in Iraq. Yet, the blatant support for Israel put the US administration in a critical position, facing massive protests in different states, where President Joe Biden was unwelcome, including Michigan, the home of the large Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, and Iraqi communities.