Even as the U.S.-led coalition continued strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen, meant to “degrade” their capabilities, the drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden continued. In the latest incident, the Indian Navy’s destroyer INS Visakhapatnam responded to a distress call by Marshall Island-flagged merchant vessel m.v.Genco Picardy following a drone attack at 11.11 p.m. on January 17. No casualties have been reported and the vessel is heading to the next port of call.
“INS Visakhapatnam, undertaking anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, acknowledged the distress call and intercepted the vessel at 0030 hrs on January 18, 2024 in order to provide assistance. m.v.Genco Picardy with 22 crew members, nine Indians, reported nil casualties and fire under control,” the Navy said in a statement on Thursday.
As per marine traffic portal vesselfinder.com, m.v.Genco Picardy, a bulk carrier, departed Port of Safaga in Egypt on January 11 and was scheduled to arrive at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu in India on January 24.
The Navy said Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialists from the warship boarded the vessel early on Thursday to inspect the damaged area and after a thorough inspection, they have “rendered the area safe for further transit.
The Indian Navy currently has around 12 warships deployed in the Arabian Sea area for anti-piracy and maritime security duties. Speaking on the sidelines of an event, Navy Chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar said they are deployed in the region to ensure that our national interests in the maritime domain are “preserved, protected, promoted and pursued.” “So we have our own deployments. We have two ongoing operations. One anti-piracy operation and one anti-drone support for merchant shipping. Both these operations are under way,” he stated.
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This is the latest in a series of drone attacks or hijacking attempts of Indian-flagged or foreign-flagged vessels with Indian crew. Since the Israeli offensive in Gaza, there have been a series of attacks on merchant ships from Houthi rebels in Yemen in the Red Sea as well as the Arabian Sea, including few instances where Indian-crewed vessels headed to India were hit by drones, m.v. Chem Pluto and m.v. Sai Baba.
Latest U.S. strikes
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Thursday that on January 17 at approximately 11.59 p.m. (Sanaa time), it conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.
“These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting U.S. forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves,” USCENTCOM said in a post on X. These strikes, along with other actions we have taken, will degrade the Houthi’s capabilities to continue their reckless attacks on international and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden, it stated.
In a related development, on Wednesday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced the designation of Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Analysing debris
Speaking in Hyderabad last week, Admiral Kumar said there were 35 drone attacks in the last 40 to 42 days on ships and the target was Israel-owned ships or those linked to Israel, and mainly in the Red Sea, the North Arabian Sea, and the Central Arabian Sea. He said the Navy had collected samples of debris from three vessels (which were attacked) and was examining them forensically to identify the origin of the attack.
In the first week of January, Indian Navy MARCOs (Marine Commandos) boarded a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier m.v. Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea and rescued the crew, including 15 Indians and six Philippines, locked themselves in the citadel, after it was boarded by pirates, successfully foiling a hijacking attempt.
In December, Malta-flagged tanker m.v. Ruen, with 18 crew onboard, was hijacked by Somali pirates approximately 700 miles from the Indian coast and the vessel is currently off the coast of Somalia.
In response to these incidents, the Indian Navy has substantially enhanced maritime surveillance efforts in Central and North Arabian Sea and augmented force levels. Task groups comprising destroyers and frigates have been deployed to undertake maritime security operations and render assistance to merchant vessels in case of any incident and aerial surveillance by long-range maritime patrol aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles has been enhanced to have a complete maritime domain awareness.
