DUBAI: A ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said.
The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalated a maritime campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships travelling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.
The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country's war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the (Red Sea) until they bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need,” the Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement claiming responsibility for Friday's attacks.
In his statement, military spokesman Saree claimed the Houthis targeted the Palatium III and the Alanya, and not the Al Jasrah. It wasn't immediately clear why he erroneously identified the second ship.
The recent attacks led Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, to announce Friday that it’s told all of its vessels planning to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to “pause their journey until further notice.” German-based shipper Hapag-Lloyd which was operating the Al Jasrah also said it was pausing all its container ship traffic through the Red Sea until Monday.
A U.S. defence official and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said the MSC Palatium III, a Liberian-flagged container ship, caught fire after the strike. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone on board the vessel had been hurt.
The attacks Friday further escalated a campaign by the Houthi rebels, who have claimed responsibility for a series of missile assaults in recent days that just missed shipping in the Red Sea and its strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
On Thursday, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile that missed a container ship travelling through the strait.
The day before that, two missiles fired from Houthi-held territory missed a commercial tanker loaded with Indian-manufactured jet fuel near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Also near the strait, a missile fired by Houthis on Monday night slammed into a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea.
Global shipping has increasingly been targeted as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even during a brief pause in fighting during which Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The collapse of the truce has raised the risk of more sea attacks.
In November, Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. The rebels still hold the vessel near the port city of Hodeida.