The Indian Navy swiftly assisted a Panama-flagged crude oil tanker with 30 crew members including 22 Indians after the vessel came under missile attack from Houthi militants.

Indian Navy Jumps Into Action After Russia-To-Gujarat Oil Ship Gets Attacked

The Indian Navy swiftly assisted a Panama-flagged crude oil tanker with 30 crew members including 22 Indians after the vessel came under missile attack from Houthi militants. Indian Navy’s destroyer INS Kochi responded following the attack on the vessel, MV Andromeda Star, on April 26, officials said, adding all the crew members are safe.

The US Central Command said Iranian-backed Houthi militants launched three anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen into the Red Sea in the vicinity of merchant vessel Maisha and MV Andromeda Star. “A mission deployed Indian Naval destroyer INS Kochi responded to a maritime security incident involving the attack on Panama-flagged crude oil tanker MV Andromeda Star on April 26,” the Indian Navy said.

The vessel was intercepted by the Indian Navy ship and an aerial recce involving a helicopter operation was undertaken to assess the situation, it said. An Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team of the Navy was also deployed to carry out “residual risk assessment”, the Navy said in a statement.

In the last few weeks, the Indian Navy extended assistance to a number of merchant vessels in the Western Indian Ocean following attacks on them.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis are an armed political and religious group which champions Yemen’s Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis. They declare themselves to be part of the Iranian-led “axis of resistance” against Israel, the US and the wider West – along with armed groups such as Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the group emerged in the 1990s and takes its name from the movement’s late founder, Hussein al-Houthi. The current leader is his brother, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.

In the early 2000s, the Houthis fought a series of rebellions against Yemen’s long-time authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. They wanted greater autonomy for the group’s homeland in the north of Yemen.

Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the group emerged in the 1990s and takes its name from the movement’s late founder, Hussein al-Houthi. The current leader is his brother, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. In the early 2000s, the Houthis fought a series of rebellions against Yemen’s long-time authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. They wanted greater autonomy for the group’s homeland in the north of Yemen.

The US military said on Sunday it had engaged five unmanned drones over the Red Sea that “presented an imminent threat to US, coalition, and merchant vessels in the region.”

The US Central Command did not say in the statement if the drones were destroyed. More details on this story are awaited.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the US military’s MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.

The Houthis said they shot down the Predator with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.