DUBAI: Yemen's Houthi rebels hit a US-owned cargo vessel with a missile on Monday, the US military said, heightening fears for the volatile region after repeated attacks on shipping triggered American and British strikes.
After the Western strikes against rebel targets last Friday, the Houthis said they would not be deterred and declared that US and British interests were "legitimate targets".
The Marshall Islands-flagged Gibraltar Eagle suffered a fire on board but no casualties and remained seaworthy, the US Central Command said, after the latest attack in recent days.
"Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and struck the M/V Gibraltar Eagle," it posted on X.
"The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its journey," added CENTCOM, which directs US military operations in the region.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree later said the rebels "carried out a military operation targeting an American ship" in the Gulf of Aden using "a certain number of appropriate naval missiles".
A Houthi military and a Yemeni government source had told AFP that the insurgents fired three missiles on Monday.
An anti-ship ballistic missile launched earlier towards shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea failed in flight and crashed on land, CENTCOM said.
The incident in the Gulf of Aden, south of the Red Sea, comes a day after a Houthi cruise missile targeting a US destroyer was shot down by US warplanes.
It also follows Friday's attack by the United States and Britain on scores of sites in rebel-held Yemen.
Attacks by and against the Houthis, part of the "axis of resistance" of Iran-aligned groups, have raised concerns about violence spreading in the region from the Gaza war.
The Houthi say their attacks on Red Sea shipping are in solidarity with Gaza, where Iran-backed Hamas militants have been at war with Israel for more than three months.
Around 12 percent of global trade normally passes through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea's entrance between southwest Yemen and Djibouti, but the rebel attacks have affected trade flows.
'Potential shift'
In Monday's attack, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations security agency, run by Britain's Royal Navy, reported a "vessel hit from above by a missile".
Ambrey, a British maritime risk company, "assessed the attack to have targeted US interests in response to US military strikes on Houthi military positions in Yemen", adding that the vessel was "assessed to not be Israel-affiliated".
"The impact reportedly caused a fire in a hold. The bulker reportedly remained seaworthy, and no injuries were reported," Ambrey said in a report.
The ship was transiting the International Recommended Transit Corridor, a passage of the Gulf of Aden that is patrolled for pirates, when it was struck, Ambrey added.
Mohammed Albasha, senior Middle East analyst at the US-based Navanti Group consultancy, said the attack in the Gulf of Aden could signal a change in strategy by the Houthis.
"With the US Navy and Royal Navy warships directing their firepower primarily to the Red Sea, I expect a potential shift, where the Houthis redirect their attention to vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea," he said.
Washington last month announced a maritime security initiative, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to protect maritime traffic in the area, but the Houthis have kept up attacks despite several warnings.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told British lawmakers on Monday that initial assessment showed "all 13 planned targets were destroyed" in last week's allied action. Buildings at a drone and cruise missile base and an airfield, as well as a cruise missile launcher, were struck, he said.