Red Sea ship damaged after Houthi drone attack

AL-MUKALLA: A commercial ship cruising along Yemen’s Red Sea coast was damaged after being attacked by a drone suspected to have been operated by Yemen’s Houthi militia, two UK maritime security agencies said on Sunday.

The attack in the Red Sea came only hours after the Houthis claimed they had targeted ships in Israel, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Sea.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations said it was notified by the master of a commercial ship about an uncrewed aircraft system hitting and damaging the ship in the Red Sea 65 nautical miles west of Hodeidah in Yemen, and that the ship’s crew members were safe.

“The vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” UKMTO said in a notice on X.

Ambrey, a UK maritime security service, said that the ship is a “fully cellular container ship” flying the Liberian flag.

This comes as the Houthis said on Sunday morning that they had conducted two combined military operations with the Islamic Resistance group in Iraq against five ships in Israel’s Haifa port and the Mediterranean.

In a televised statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said that their forces and the Iraqi militia used drones to strike four ships in Haifa, including two cement ships and two cargo ships.

The second operation included firing a drone at the Shorthorn Express ship in the Mediterranean as it approached Haifa. 

Sarea claimed the five ships were targeted because they violated the militia’s ban on vessels visiting Israeli ports.

Hours earlier, a Houthi military spokesman claimed to have launched ballistic missile attacks on the US aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea and the commercial ship Transworld Navigator in the Arabian Sea.

According to marinetraffic.com, which provides information regarding ship whereabouts and identities, the Transworld Navigator is a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier traveling from China to the Suez Canal and the Shorthorn Express, a cattle carrier sailing under the flag of Luxembourg, left Haifa for Malta on Sunday.

Since November, the Houthis have seized one commercial ship, sunk another, and launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones, and explosive-laden drone boats against commercial and navy vessels in international waters near Yemen, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean.

The Houthis say they solely targeted Israeli-linked ships and those ships heading to Israel to pressure Israel to cease its war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

At the same time, US Central Command said on Sunday morning that its forces had destroyed three Houthi drones in the Red Sea in the previous 24 hours and that the Houthis had also launched three anti-ship ballistic missiles into the Gulf of Aden from Yemeni territory under their control.

The missiles did not strike any US-led marine coalition ships or other commercial ships operating on critical commerce lanes off Yemen.

“This continued malign and reckless behavior by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the US military said in a statement, denying the Houthi claims of attacking the Eisenhower.

“Recent claims about a successful attack by Houthi forces on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) are categorically false.”

On Monday, Centcom said that the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier is traveling to the Red Sea to prevent Houthi attacks on shipping, replacing the Eisenhower, which will return to the US.

Meanwhile, the Houthis freed a Bahai sect member in Sanaa after detaining him for more than a year. In a post on X, the Bahai International Community said on Saturday that the Houthis had freed Abdullah Al-Olofi but are still keeping four others, who were among 17 Bahais abducted by the Houthis in May 2023 after raiding their meeting in Sanaa, captive.

The Houthis have conducted a crackdown on Yemen’s Bahai minority, accusing them of being unbelievers and conspiring with the US and Israel.