Houthi attack on ship kills 2, marking the militia’s first fatal assault on shipping

A missile attack by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden killed two of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel on Wednesday, authorities said, the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the militia over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The attack on the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier True Confidence further escalates the conflict on a crucial maritime route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe that has disrupted global shipping. The Houthis have launched attacks since November, and the US began an airstrike campaign in January that so far hasn’t halted the rebels’ attacks.

The attack Wednesday on the True Confidence came after it had been hailed over radio by individuals claiming to be the Yemeni military, officials said. The Houthis have been hailing ships over the radio in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since launching their attacks, with analysts suspecting the militants want to seize the vessels.

Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as they didn’t have authorization to speak publicly, said that the anti-ship ballistic missile attack killed two of the crew members on board and wounded six others.

The full extent of the damage to the Liberian-owned ship remained unclear, but the crew abandoned the ship and deployed lifeboats.

A US warship and the Indian navy were on the scene, trying to assist in rescue efforts.

Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a prerecorded message, saying its missile fire set the vessel ablaze. He said the Houthis’ attacks would only stop when the “siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza is lifted.”

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war, but up to Wednesday hadn’t killed any crew members. The vessels have included at least one with cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory.

Despite more than a month and a half of US-led airstrikes, the Houthis have remained capable of launching significant attacks. They include the attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which sank on Saturday after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.

It was unclear why the Houthis targeted the True Confidence. However, it had previously been owned by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based fund that finances vessels on installments. Oaktree declined to comment.

Meanwhile, a separate Houthi assault Tuesday apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American campaign against the rebels. The Carney shot down bomb-carrying drones and one anti-ship ballistic missile, the US military’s Central Command said. Saree acknowledged that attack as well.

The US later launched an airstrike destroying three anti-ship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, the Central Command said.

The Houthis haven’t offered any assessment of the damage they’ve suffered in the American-led strikes that began in January, though they’ve said at least 22 of their fighters have been killed. One civilian has reportedly been killed.

The US Treasury separately announced new sanctions targeting a Houthi financier and the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which arms the Houthis.

The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014. They’ve battled an Arab-led coalition since 2015 in a long-stalemated war there.

Meanwhile, the Indian navy released a video of its sailors from the INS Kolkata fighting a fire aboard the MSC Sky II, which had been targeted by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden on Monday. The Mediterranean Shipping Co., a Switzerland-based company, said the missile struck the ship as it was traveling from Singapore to Djibouti. No one was injured.

-With the Associated Press