MV Mercer Street, an Israel-operated tanker, was attacked off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea on 30 July, in an incident that claimed the lives of at least two people. Israel immediately put the blame on Iran, which vehemently denied the accusations.
A UK Special Forces team has been deployed to Yemen to track down those behind last week's drone attack on a tanker in the Persian Gulf that killed a British security guard, the Daily Express has revealed.
The newspaper claimed that 40 Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers arrived in eastern Yemen on Saturday, and that the team includes an electronic warfare unit capable of intercepting communications chatter.
According to the news outlet, the servicemen will also rely on local handlers, who have received payment from the Foreign Office and have “knowledge of the region” to help the SAS team hunt down the alleged attackers. The Daily Mail added that London apparently believes the Iran-backed Houthi rebels carried out the attack on the tanker with support from Tehran.
The newspaper cited unnamed UK military sources as saying that “everything points to the drone being launched from Yemen. The concern now is that an extended-range drone will give them a new capability”.
Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between government forces led by its President-in-exile Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi movement since 2014. An Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, often launches strikes to support…
