The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet announced its interception of over 50 tons of munitions carefully concealed on a fishing vessel that was reportedly covering a route bound toward Yemen.
The operation was undertaken on 1 Dec and was carried out by the crew members of the expeditionary mobile base vessel dubbed the “USS Lewis B. Puller” in a verification maneuver.
The cargo included more than one million 7.62mm cartridges; 25,000 12.7mm cartridges; about 7,000 rocket fuses and 2,100 self-propelled grenade fuel.


Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of the Central Naval Command, has denounced that the shipment arrived from Iran and was meant for the Huthi insurgency based in Yemen, backed by the Islamic Republic in a war against the Yemeni government.
This significant seizure demonstrates Iran’s illegal transfer of destabilizing behavior and lethal aid, Cooper stated in the Navy’s statement, released this Saturday.
The Huthis haven’t commented on the operation beyond condemning US’ behavior in the Red Sea, whose practices reportedly endanger international peace and security, per a Huthi Foreign Ministry statement that was carried by the South 24 portal.
References: MSN, Star Stripes