A missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a Liberian-flagged container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden, authorities said Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
The attack marks the Houthis’ first attack on a ship since Israel struck the Port of Hudaydah, a strike which came in retaliation for the Houthi rebels’ UAV attack on Tel Aviv.
The Houthis offered no explanation for the two-week pause in their attacks on shipping through the Red Sea corridor, but the resumption comes after the elimination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.
The rebels separately said they shot down another US spy drone Sunday, later publishing imagery of the aircraft's wreckage on the side of the mountain.
The attack on Saturday occurred some 225 kilometers southeast of Aden, in a stretch of the Gulf of Aden that has seen numerous Houthi attacks previously. It hit the container ship Groton just above its waterline, causing minor damage, said the Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational coalition overseen by the US Navy. An earlier missile attack missed the vessel, the JMIC said.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a prerecorded statement Sunday afternoon, according to AP.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have upped their attacks in the region since the start of the war in Gaza, having launched drones towards southern Israel and targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea region.
In the wake of the uptick in Houthi attacks, the US formed a coalition, made up of more than 20 countries, aimed at safeguarding commercial traffic in the Red Sea from attacks by the Houthis.
In mid-January, with support from other countries, the US and Britain targeted just under 30 Houthi locations with 150 different weapons. They have since carried out several rounds of strikes against Houthi targets.
The Houthis have been unfazed by the strikes, saying that the campaign against the "Zionist enemy" will continue and that the attacks against the American and British ships will not stop.