Dubai, United Arab Emirates — A commercial ship traveling through the Red Sea came under repeated attack Wednesday, leaving the vessel “not under command” in an assault suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the British military said. There were few details about the attack, but it appeared to be the latest in the Houthis’ monthslong campaign targeting commercial and military ships in what the group has said is a response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The attack saw men on small boats first open fire with small arms, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The ship also was hit by three projectiles, it added.
“The vessel reports being not under command,” the UKMTO said, likely meaning it lost all power. “No casualties reported.”
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, though it can take them hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
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Thus far the group has sunk two ships, most recently a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier called the Tutor that went down in June. Nobody was killed in that attack, but the sinking vessel is believed to have severed several undersea communications cables.
The first ship sunk by a Houthi attack was a British-owned vessel struck by a missile in early March. U.S. officials said a Houthi missile attack on another commercial ship, in the Gulf of Aden, also in March, killed at least three people and injured four others.
The attacks have drawn a coordinated military response from the U.S. and Britain, which have bombed Houthi infrastructure in Yemen for months and shot down dozens of Houthi-launched drones and missiles, but failed to stem the attacks in the vital shipping lanes of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis call the attacks a direct response to the Israel-Hamas war. The Yemeni rebels are backed by Iran, like Hamas. The U.S. accused Iran in December of being “deeply involved” in the attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Officials in Tehran reject any culpability, insisting the Houthis and other groups that operate across the region with Iran’s support – often referred to as proxies – plan and act independently.
In July the Houthis declared a “new phase” in their operations with a first drone attack on Israel. One man was killed as explosive-laden drones slammed into Tel Aviv in an unprecedented attack by the group.
Israel quickly struck back with strikes targeting Houthi-held energy infrastructure in the port city of Hodeida.