US and UK-led coalition on Saturday launched attacks on the Yemen’s Houthi rebels in another round of airstrike due to recent surge in the attacks on the western bound vessels. Tensions escalated in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as Houthis intensified the attacks on ships.

A joint strike by the coalition struck 18 targets across eight locations in Yemen. These targets were associated with “Houthi underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter,” according to a statement by coalition.

Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, US are all part of the Red Sea coalition to deter the Yemen’s Houthis who have been launching attacks on commercial shipping linked with Israel in an effort to pressurise and weaken the US support for Israeli ground incursion in the besieged strip of Gaza.

Threats of potential oil,fertiliser spills into the sea

The US military said ship Rubymar bulk carrier sustained "significant damage" after Iran-backed rebels struck it. The vessel was carrying 41,000 tons of fertilizer, that could lead to a potential to spill into the sea. A UK-owned ship, that was targeted in the Red Sea has caused a 29-kilometer (18-mile) oil spill, the US military said in a statement.

The Belize-flagged vessel, Rubymar, was attacked on February 18, according to a statement published by the US Central Command (CENTCOM). It added that while the vessel “is anchored it is slowly taking on water. According to the CENTCOM, the ship was loaded with an estimated 41,000 tons of fertiliser that now risks posing environmental hazard after Houthis’ what CENTCOM described as the "unprovoked and reckless attack" caused "significant damage" and an "18-mile oil slick.” US military said that the Houthis carried out 45 attacks on the commercial ships, adding that this “demand an international response.” 

The United States “will not hesitate to take action, as needed, to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways,’ US State Department said in a separate statement.