The US military announced Sunday that it had declared dead two soldiers who “disappeared” during an operation off the coast of Somalia during which they boarded a ship carrying Iranian weapons believed to be intended for the Houthi rebels. from Yemen. “We regret to announce that after ten days of exhaustive searching, the two missing US Navy personnel have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased. The search and rescue operation ( …) during the boarding of an illicit vessel carrying advanced Iranian conventional weapons on January 11 is complete,” read a statement from the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). The agency said that during this “extensive search operation, air and naval platforms from the United States, Japan and Spain continuously searched” more than 21,000 square miles (54,300 square kilometers) to locate the soldiers. Standard Related News No US bombing of Houthi missile sites in Yemen AFP The United States has attacked the sites of 14 missiles ready for launch in Yemen. Additionally, they collaborated with the United States Fleet Digital Weather and Oceanography Center. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command, the Scripts Institute of Oceanography at the University of San Diego, and the Naval Research Oceanographic Support Office. Last week, CENTCOM reported seizing a shipment of weapons allegedly coming from Iran and destined for the Houthis, in the first such intervention since increased insurgent attacks in the Red Sea as part of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. which left 25,000 dead in just over three months. American special forces supported by helicopters and drones approached it in the waters of the Arabian Sea and located “ballistic missiles and cruise missile components” on board, all of Iranian manufacture. Analyzes carried out on this subject “indicate that these are the same weapons used by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent sailors aboard international merchant ships transiting the Red Sea”. Then, CENTCOM Commander Michael Erik Kurilla warned that interceptions of this type are “another example” of Iran’s active participation in activities that contribute to “instability” throughout the region “and that it continues to provide advanced weapons” to the Houthi rebels. “We will continue to work with our regional and international partners to denounce and veto these efforts and ultimately restore freedom of navigation,” he said.
