US Military: Two US Navy SEALs Missing Off Coast of Somalia Are Dead

The SEALs went missing while boarding a boat carrying a weapons shipment allegedly bound for the Houthis

Two US Navy SEALs who went missing in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Somalia are dead, the US military declared on Sunday.

The SEALs went missing while boarding a boat carrying weapons allegedly bound for the Houthis in Yemen, making them the first American casualties of President Biden’s new war against the Yemeni group.

The SEALs went missing on January 11, not long before the US launched its initial round of missile strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen. According to the military, one of the SEALs fell into the water due to rough seas, and the other jumped in to rescue him.

“We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing US Navy SEALs have not been located, and their status has been changed to deceased,” US Central Command said in a statement.

The SEALs are not the first US troops to die in the region since the US began backing Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. Back in November, five US Army special operations soldiers who were deployed to the region in the wake of October 7 died in a helicopter crash off Cyprus. The Pentagon said they were on a refueling training mission.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.