Environment
Environmental disaster looms following Houthis' attack on oil tanker
The Houthis' repeated attacks on commercial vessels have put the Red Sea region at risk of catastrophic environmental damage.
![A screenshot from a Houthi propaganda video, released August 23, purportedly shows the Sounion oil tanker on fire in the Red Sea. [Ansarallah Media Center/AFP]](/gc1/images/2024/08/27/47435-houthis-ship-attack-600_384.webp)
By Al-Fassel |
With their latest attack on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Iran-backed Houthis have once again put their own country and the rest of the region at risk of an environmental disaster.
The Houthis, who receive arms and funding from the Iranian regime, struck the Greek-flagged Sounion oil tanker August 21 off the coast of al-Hodeidah as it transported 150,000 tons of crude oil from Iraq to Greece.
The European Union's Aspides naval mission rescued the crew, warning the abandoned vessel posed "a navigational and environmental hazard."
"The Houthis' continued attacks threaten to spill a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said August 24.
"While the crew has been evacuated, the Houthis appear determined to sink the ship and its cargo into the sea."
"Through these attacks, the Houthis have made clear they are willing to destroy the fishing industry and regional ecosystems that Yemenis and other communities in the region rely on for their livelihoods," he said.
The group also has "undermined the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to the region through their reckless attacks," Miller said.
Environmental damage
In March, the Houthis attacked the Belize-flagged, Lebanese-operated Rubymar, which sank in the Red Sea with 21,000 tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer on board.
In June, the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Tutor sank after being struck by the Houthis.
The Houthis also have come under fire for their handling of the FSO Safer -- a corroding oil tanker moored in the Red Sea -- repeatedly obstructing access to the vessel in an effort to use it as a political bargaining chip.
"Once again, the Houthis have attacked a ship that is carrying oil and that could likely spill into the Red Sea, creating an environmental disaster," Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said August 22.
The Houthis "just created an environmental disaster right outside their own home country. Like, what purpose does that serve? That is going to have lasting impacts. And they've done that before," Singh said.
"I mean, what kind of impact does that have for the region?"
Operation Prosperity Guardian
The Houthis "still maintain a robust arsenal, but we have been able to degrade their capabilities over time and we have been able to protect ships that transit the Red Sea with our alliance through Operation Prosperity Guardian," Singh said.
"We've hit over 150 launchers," she said.
"While [the Houthis] continue to launch attacks, we have ensured that shipping has continued through those shipping lanes [...] We want to see it protected. That's why you have Operation Prosperity Guardian."
You are constantly lying, and even if you condemn the effective strikes on the Zionists and Americans and those allied with them in the name of environmental pollution, why don't you speak on behalf of those affected by this pollution but rather repeat what the Jews and the Americans say? The Yemeni people have come to know the danger that threatens the nation and the Arabs in particular and are mitigating this danger in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. They are taking a position that many traitors, agents and normalizers with the Jews have kept silent about, a position of support, aid and rescue for the people of Palestine and in circumstances that have not allow them to be a great power after the suffering they have endured for eight years of war, aggression and siege, and despite that, they continue to present stances and surprises that did not occur to the American, Israeli or British minds... And even greater things are to come.
The entire free world knows that what is happening in Yemen is a humanitarian intervention in order to stop the humanitarian catastrophe that is happening to the oppressed people in the honorable Gaza Strip. We must stand with the oppressed Palestinians in order to stop this barbaric attack on thesw oppressed people. So thank you to Yemen, the people of Islamic fervor, zeal, and chivalry, for these noble stances that history and all the free people of the world are bearing witness to.
All these events in Yemen are caused by the attack on Gaza and are the basis of this alleged environmental disaster that defends the oppressed people in the honorable Gaza.
The ongoing catastrophe in Gaza must be stopped so that the environmental catastrophe would stop automatically.
There is a humanitarian catastrophe occurring in Gaza, which is many times more important than the environmental catastrophe. That is the basis of this ongoing catastrophe inflicted on the oppressed Palestinian people by the brutal, criminal occupying forces.
Firstly, if I agree with what you said that you are interested in marine life and the damages that result from it, as you claim (even though it is just empty talk that has no basis in truth, because this is what your master, your benefactor America, directs you to do, to incite public opinion and those who support Ansar Allah action in support of our brothers in Gaza), then my dear, if what you said is true, even though I believe it is a lie and deception, I would like to inform you that what you are exaggerating about is the destruction of marine life and the death of fish and so on. All of that is not more precious than the blood and body parts of Palestinian children and women, so we do not care about your empty talk and your blatant incitement.
I would like to tell you that the level of awareness among the Yemeni people has grown and developed and they have become more aware than before. This is all thanks to God and because of your lies and your prideful hostility, so whenever you tell a lie and you believe it and think that the people have been fooled by this lie, the next day comes to expose you and strip you naked, and the people see what level of decadence and baseness you have reached, so you are, after God, the reason for these people's awareness.