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.
Few details were immediately available ab♌out the attack, though it comes during the Houthis' months long campaign targeting ships over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The attack saw men on small boats first open fire with small arms some 140 kilometers west of the rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operatio🌌ns center (UKMTO) said.
Three projectiles also hit the ship, it added. It wasn't immediately clear if that meantꦑ drones or missiles.
"The vessel reports being not under command,” the UKMTO said, like𒊎ly 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 before their acknowledge one of their assaults.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vess﷽els with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that also killed fourꦚ sailors.
Other missiles and drones have been either intercඣepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels maintain that they have targeted ships linked to Israel, the United States or the UK to force an end to Israel's war against Ha꧟mas in Gaza.
However, many of the ships attacke🔯d have little or no coᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnnection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have also launched drones and missiles toward Israel, including an attack on July 19 that killed one person and wounded 10 others in Tel Aviv. Israel responded the next day with airstrikes on the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida that hit fuel depots and electrical stations, killing and wounding 🎐a number of people, the rebels say.
After the strikes, the Houthis paused their attacks until August 3, when they hit a Liberian-flagged container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden. A Liberian-flagged oil tanker came under a particularly intense series of attacks, beginning August 8, likely ca🌱rried out by the rebels. A similar attack happened August 13 as well.
As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the US military told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. America also has ordered the the USS Georgia guided missile submarine 🧔into the Mideast, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group was in the Gulf of Oman.
Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region and the UཧSS Wasp, a large amphibious a♏ssault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea.
