(19 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 19 June 2024
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1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jon Gambrell, AP’s Gulf and Iran news director:
"A second ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red sea. Now this ship, the Tutor, was attacked about a week ago by what appears to have been a bomb-carrying drone boat launched by the Houthis that rammed into the back of the vessel and exploded. This attack is suspected to have killed at least one sailor on board. That raises the death toll from these Houthi attacks have been going on since November to at least four people being killed and two ships have sunk, and we have seen just near-daily attacks in the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden, which has disrupted shipping through that vital corridor. Now, as of right now, the U.S. Navy is still there with an aircraft carrier and other destroyers. The Navy says they’re facing their most intense combat since World War II in trying to stop these Houthi attacks. The Houthis insist these assaults will continue as long as Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip goes on. And with that war going on and the Houthis continuing their fire, all this means is that shipping remains at risk in that Red Sea corridor, and that these attacks are likely to continue."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Red Sea, at sea – 19 June 2024
2. Various USS Dwight D. Eisenhower seen from a helicopter in the Red Sea
3. US Navy aircraft preparing to take off
4. Close of Navy officer in helmet
6. US Navy aircraft taking off
7. Eisenhower seen from a helicopter
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STORYLINE:
A bulk carrier sank days after an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels believed to have killed one mariner on board, authorities said early Wednesday, the second ship sunk in the rebels’ campaign.
The sinking of the Tutor in the Red Sea marks what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign targeting shipping through the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Tutor came under attack about a week ago by a bomb-carrying Houthi drone boat in the Red Sea. John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said Monday that the attack killed “a crew member who hailed from the Philippines.” The Philippines has yet to acknowledge the death, but the man who had been aboard the Tutor has been missing for over a week in the Red Sea, which faces intense summertime heat.
The attack comes despite a monthslong U.S.-led campaign in the region that has seen the Navy face its most-intense maritime fighting since World War II, with near-daily attacks targeting commercial vessels and warship.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, killing four sailors. They’ve seized one vessel and sunk two since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.
In March, the Belize-flagged Rubymar carried a load of fertilizer sank in the Red Sea after taking on water for days following a rebel attack.
The Houthis have maintained their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. However, many of the ships they’ve attacked have little or no connection to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
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