Suspected Houthi attacks target ship in Gulf of Aden, Israeli city of Eilat
The Houthis have previously attacked Eilat with drones and missiles | Representative photo: Bloomberg
Suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Israeli port city of Eilat on Wednesday morning, authorities said.
The attacks follow the departure of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower after an eight-month deployment during which the aircraft carrier led the U.S. response to the Houthi attacks. These attacks have drastically reduced shipping through the route crucial to markets in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, in a campaign that the Houthis say will continue as long as the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues.
The ship attack took place off the coast of Aden, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said.
The captain of a merchant ship reported that a missile had struck the water near the ship, the UKMTO said. The crew is reported safe and the ship sails to the next port of call.
The UKMTO did not say whether the ship was damaged.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said early on Wednesday that a drone had fallen off the coast of Eilat. The military activated air raid sirens in the area.
The drone was monitored by (Israeli) soldiers throughout the incident and did not enter Israeli territory, the Israeli army said. An interceptor was fired at the drone during the incident.
The Houthis have previously attacked Eilat with drones and missiles.
The Houthis did not immediately claim either attack. However, it could take hours or even days for the rebels to acknowledge their attacks.
The rebels have attacked more than 60 targeted ships during their campaign by firing missiles and drones, killing a total of four sailors. Since November, they have seized one ship and sunk two. A US-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others in a series of strikes on May 30, the rebels say.
The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships with ties to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war between Israel and Hamas, including those bound for Iran.
Late Tuesday, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed an attack on the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned container ship MSC Sarah V on Monday. Saree claimed without providing additional evidence that the Houthis used a new ballistic missile in the attack, which targeted a ship farther away than nearly all of the previous attacks they have launched in the Gulf of Aden.
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First print: June 26, 2024 | 9:50 am IST