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Euronews
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Two injured, two missing after suspected Houthi attack on Red Sea ship
Two seafarers are missing and two others are injured after an attack on a ship in the Red Sea that has been attributed to Yemen's Houthi rebels. The assault on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Eternity C began on Monday night, when it was targeted by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones as it made its way north towards the Suez Canal, the EU's anti-piracy mission Operation Atalanta said. The ship's crew consists of 21 Filipinos and one Russian, plus three security personnel, the EU force added. The Eternity C remains "surrounded by small craft and is under continuous attack", the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said on Tuesday. Although the Houthis — a rebel group which controls much of northern and western Yemen, including the capital Sana'a — have not claimed the attack, Yemen's exiled government and the EU force blamed the rebels for the attack. The latest assault in the Red Sea came shortly after the Houthis claimed to have sunk another ship, which they targeted in the same area on Sunday. The Magic Seas, which, like the Eternity C, is Liberian-flagged but Greek-owned, was around 100 kilometres southwest of Yemen's Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida when it came under fire. Forced to abandon the vessel, its 22-person crew was rescued by an Abu Dhabi Ports ship. Yahya Saree, the Houthis' military spokesman, said the group had carried out the attack on the Magic Seas. He later claimed it had sunk. The developments in the important shipping corridor coincide with a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as the US President Donald Trump tries to broker a ceasefire in Gaza. Shortly after starting his second term in January, Trump began a series of strikes against the Houthis, who had targeted more than 100 merchant ships in the Red Sea between November 2023 and January 2025 in response to Israel's war in Gaza. The Houthi attacks during that period sank two of the boats and killed four sailors, and heavily reduced the flow of shipping trade through the Red Sea, which usually sees $1 trillion worth of goods move through it each year. The Trump administration announced in May that it would stop its strikes against the Houthis, saying they had agreed to stop attacking commercial ships. Since then, Israel and the Houthis have continued to launch missiles against each other.
9 News
06-07-2025
- Politics
- 9 News
Crew abandons ship in Red Sea after 'drone boat' attack
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel overnight as it took on water, marking the first serious assault in the vital corridor for trade after a months-long campaign by Yemen's Houthi rebels there. 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. Houthi fighters march during a rally of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (AP) A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after US President Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign. And it comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most-sensitive atomic sites amid an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic. "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 US carried out strikes in the Red Sea in March. (AP) The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre 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 100km south-west 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 Centre said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. The US Navy's Middle East-based Fifth Fleet referred questions to the military's Central Command, which said it was aware of the incident without elaborating. 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 attack also proves once again that the Houthis are merely a front for an Iranian scheme using Yemen as a platform to undermine regional and global stability, at a time when Tehran continues to arm the militia and provide it with military technology, including missiles, aircraft, drones, and sea mines," al-Eryani wrote on the social platform X. The Magic Seas' owners did not respond to a request for comment. The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The group's al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack occurred, but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. However, Ambrey said the vessel targeted met "the established Houthi target profile," without elaborating. Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees US$1 trillion ($1.53 trillion) of goods move through it annually. The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven't attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel. On Sunday, the group claimed launching a missile at Israel which the Israeli military said it intercepted. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks. Meanwhile, a wider, decade-long war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country's exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a stalemate. The Yemeni Coast Guard, which is loyal to the exiled government, has engaged in a firefight with at least one vessel in the Red Sea in the past as well. 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. 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