Crude oil tanker in Bab el-Mandeb Strait targeted in suspected Houthi attack
The Associated Press reports that three suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said on Friday.
Reuters reports that the vessel was a crude oil tanker owned by an Athens-based company.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a months-long campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed after the assassination of
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.”
In the first attack, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded close to the ship Thursday, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Two smaller craft, with men aboard wearing white and yellow raincoats, launched the RPG, the UKMTO said.
The second attack came early Friday, with a missile “exploding in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “The vessel and crew are reported to be safe.”
The private security firm Ambrey reported that the ship was hit by a drone that caused no injuries or physical damage.
“The vessel was assessed to be aligned with the Houthi target profile,” Ambrey said. “The vessel was assessed to have been targeted earlier in the day.”
Then came the third attack with the drone boat, where private security guards on board “opened fire and (were) able to successfully destroy the vehicle,” Ambrey said.
Though the Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, it sometimes can take hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. They’ve also claimed others that apparently haven’t happened.