Two missing SEALs were on mission to stop Iranian weapons tied to Yemen, US says
Two members of the Navy SEALs reported missing off the coast of Somalia last week were part of a nighttime commando operation that seized a small boat with Iran's lethal assistance to Yemen's Houthi militia, it said US Army Tuesday.
Navy commandos, backed by helicopters and drones hovering overhead, boarded the small boat, a so-called dhow, on Thursday and seized Iranian-made ballistic missiles and cruise missile parts bound for Yemen, the Navy's Central Command said Pentagon in a statement.
The seized items included propulsion and guidance systems and nuclear warheads for Houthi medium-range missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, as well as air defense components, the statement said. Such arms transfers to the Houthis violate international law and a United Nations Security Council resolution, the military said.
“Initial analysis shows that the same weapons have been used by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent sailors on international merchant ships transiting the Red Sea,” the statement said.
The Navy boarding marked the first seizure by U.S. forces of Iranian-supplied weapons to the Houthis since the Iran-backed militants launched the first of more than 30 attacks on commercial ships operating in the Red Sea and nearby waters in November . It was also the Navy's first seizure of advanced Iranian ballistic missiles and cruise missiles since November 2019.
The Houthi militia launched a new series of attacks on shipping lanes crucial to global trade this weekend, damaging a US commercial ship on Monday after trying to hit a US warship the day before.
The attacks came just days after the US and British militaries unleashed a powerful barrage on militant locations in Yemen, and the Houthi response highlighted how difficult it could prove to be to counter the threat to shipping in and around the Red Sea to dispel.
After the boarding operation on Thursday, the navy deemed the dhow unsafe and scuttled the ship. According to the army statement, the fourteen crew members were taken aboard a navy ship.
Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the head of Central Command, said the search continued for the two members of the SEALs, operating from the expedition ship Lewis B. Fuller, who were reportedly lost during the boarding mission.
As the two commandos tried to board the dhow in rough seas Thursday evening, one of the men apparently slipped off the ladder or was swept away by a high wave, according to a current and a former Pentagon official briefed on the incident. Another member of the team then jumped into the water to try to save the sailor, officials said. Both soon disappeared into the waves.