A drone possibly launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit and damaged a ship in the Red Sea on Sunday, officials said, in the group’s latest attack on a vital maritime corridor.
The attack comes as the United States repatriates the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier after an eight-month deployment leading the U.S. response to Houthi attacks. The attacks have led to a sharp drop in shipping traffic on routes vital to markets in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and the Houthis say the campaign will continue as long as Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues.
The British military’s Maritime Trade Operations Center said the drone attack occurred around dawn near the rebel-held port city of Hodeidah. The ship was said to have sustained damage, but the sailors on board were “reported to be safe.” It did not detail the extent of the damage but said an investigation was ongoing.
Private security company Ambrey confirmed that the vessel involved was a Liberian-flagged container ship bound for Qingdao, China.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack. However, it could take hours or even days for the rebels to acknowledge their attack.
The Houthis launched more than 60 attacks on specific ships and launched other missiles and drones, killing a total of four sailors. They have seized one ship and sunk two since November. U.S.-led airstrikes have been targeting the Houthis since January, and a series of airstrikes on May 30 killed at least 16 people and injured 42 others, the Houthis said.
The Houthis insist they are targeting ships with links to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked had little to do with the Israel-Hamas war, including those bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main financier.
The Norfolk, Virginia-based USS Eisenhower is returning home after more than eight months of combat deployment, which the Navy said was the most intense combat since World War II. Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. Ryder said the San Diego-based USS Theodore Roosevelt will take over from the USS Eisenhower after scheduled exercises in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Roosevelt docked in Busan, South Korea, on Saturday amid ongoing tensions between Seoul and North Korea.
