DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched an explosive-loaded drone that crashed into one ship Tuesday in the Red Sea and a missile that exploded against another.
The attacks are the rebels’ first assaults on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict.
They come as Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon after days of Israeli airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top officials, and earlier explosions of sabotaged electronic devices used by the Shiite militia. The Houthis threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel on Monday after they apparently shot down a U.S. military drone flying over Yemen.
The first attack took place some 110 kilometers (70 miles) off the port city of Hodeida and targeted the Panama-flagged oil tanker Cordelia Moon, the multinational Joint Maritime Information Center said. A captain on a ship saw four “splashes” near the vessel, the center overseen by the U.S. Navy said. That likely would have been missiles launched at the vessel that missed.
The drone boat later damaged the Cordelia Moon, which sustained a puncture to one of its ballast tanks in the attack. Those tanks control a ship’s buoyancy. Houthi strikes in the past have targeted ships at their waterline to disable the vessels.
Drone boats have been increasingly used by the Houthis. The ship had been heading north to the Suez Canal with armed private security guards aboard, the private security firm Ambrey said.
Another attack with a missile targeted a separate ship also heading north to the Suez Canal with armed security on board, Ambrey said. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center later identified it as the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Minoan Courage.
Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree later claimed the two attacks in a prerecorded message, though he identified a different vessel as the second ship attacked. The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.
Saree said in a prerecorded video earlier Tuesday that the rebels had launched drones targeting Israel — attacks unreported by Israel as it faces incoming fire from Hezbollah. The Houthis have exaggerated claims in the past.
The Red Sea has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships traveling through the waterway, which once saw $1 trillion a year of cargo pass through it.
Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started last October. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Joint Maritime Information Center assessed the Cordelia Moon had been attacked over “affiliations within the vessel’s operational structure,” without elaborating. The Indian managers of the Cordelia Moon also manage the Andromeda Star, which came under Houthi attack in April.
The last attack on a merchant ship by the Houthis was on Sept. 2.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack targeting American warships last week. The rebels fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three U.S. ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, a U.S. official said Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released.
The Houthis also continue to launch missiles targeting Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israelis this weekend on Hodeida.