Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said it appeared bomb-carrying drone boats hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels’ media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.
Shortly before midnight in Yemen, Israel’s military issued a warning for three Houthi-held ports and said airstrikes would begin shortly in Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif along with at the Ras al-Khatib power station.
“It likely serves as a message that the Houthis continue to possess the capability and willingness to strike at strategic maritime targets regardless of diplomatic developments,” wrote Mohammad al-Basha, a Yemen analyst at the Basha Report risk advisory firm.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center first said that an armed security team on the unidentified vessel had returned fire against an initial attack and that the “situation is ongoing.” It described the attack as happening some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the country’s Houthi rebels.
“Authorities are investigating,” it said. It later said the ship was on fire after being “struck by unknown projectiles.”
Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, issued an alert saying that a merchant ship had been “attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea.”
Ambrey later said the ship also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could mark a major escalation. It said two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel.
Moammar al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen’s exiled government opposing the Houthis, identified the vessel attacked as the Magic Seas and blamed the rebels for the attack. The ship had been broadcasting it had an armed security team on board in the vicinity the attack took place and had been heading north.
The Magic Seas’ owners did not respond to a request for comment.
Pirates from Somalia also have operated in the region, though typically they’ve sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews. But neither the Yemeni Coast Guard nor the pirates have been known to use drone boats in their attacks.
