A new attack comes two weeks after an Iran-aligned group said it targeted three ships and a U.S. warship.
Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi armed group said it had attacked US and Israeli ships, with a Western coalition of warships providing defense amid the ongoing fallout from the war in Gaza.
Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesman, said in a video address late Wednesday that the Houthis had attacked the cargo ship Maersk Yorktown in the Gulf of Aden.
The US military confirmed that the Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from their territory at the ship, which it identified as a “US-flagged, owned and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members.”
“No injuries or damage to U.S., coalition or commercial vessels were reported,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Greece’s defense ministry said on Thursday that one of the country’s military ships deployed as part of the European Union’s naval mission to combat the Houthis in the Red Sea intercepted two drones aimed at a merchant ship from Yemen.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had previously confirmed an incident about 72 nautical miles (133 km) southeast of the port of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.
UKMTO ALERT INCIDENT 064 – UPDATE 001
ATTACKhttps://t.co/fX3hWupPWO#MartimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/7NPjBjkPFs
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) April 24, 2024
Saree said the group targeted the Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean and fired projectiles at a US warship.
The US military said its forces “successfully attacked and destroyed” four drones over Yemen within two hours of the attack on the Maersk Yorktown.
“These actions are being taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer for U.S., coalition and commercial vessels,” it said.
The Houthis, who back the Palestinian armed group Hamas, have been launching attacks on ships in waters near their coast since November, with a stated claim of ending Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The group gradually expanded its attacks from Israeli-linked ships to merchant ships and warships owned by the United States and Britain, while Washington mobilized a maritime coalition to repel the attacks and, together with the British military, targeted Yemeni soil with numerous air strikes.
According to the US Maritime Administration, in addition to seizing a merchant ship since November and sinking a British ship in March, the Houthis have also carried out more than 50 attacks on ships.
The frequency of Houthi attacks has decreased in recent months as the group appears to have exhausted its stockpile of missiles and drones after dozens of attacks while also suffering from US and British airstrikes. The previous attacks claimed by the group occurred on April 10, when they said they hit three U.S.- and Israel-affiliated ships as well as a U.S. warship.
The Houthi attacks have forced many ships to decide against transiting through the Red Sea and instead use the Suez Canal rather than circumnavigate southern Africa, making their journeys weeks longer and more expensive.