Iranian-backed Houthis kill 6 in attack on vessel
Yemeni authorities said six people were killed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, while US forces fired on a ship they said was trying to break a blockade of Iran’s ports.
Yemen’s coast guard said the dead included four crew members and two members of the Government-allied National Resistance Forces. Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the Yemeni commercial vessel, according to the Transportation Ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognized Government.
They are the first known deaths from Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen in the latest bout of fighting in the Arab country. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, there has been a renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb strait at Yemen’s southern tip, which is an alternate route for Saudi Arabia to ship its oil. The deadly vessel strike came amid Houthi attacks on the Government-held port city of Mokha on the Red Sea and other areas of the country. Dozens of Government troops and civilians have been killed in attacks since last week, according to the Yemeni military.
The strikes are part of an escalation by the Houthis against Government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni Government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthi attacks could reignite Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 truce, and open a new front in the West Asia war.
Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis’ chief negotiator and spokesperson, accused Saudi Arabia in a social media post of exploiting the ceasefire to tighten an air and sea blockade it imposed in 2015. He said the Houthis are open for negotiations but any settlement must include lifting the blockade.
The US military said Tuesday that its forces fired on a Panamanian-flagged ship in the Gulf of Oman that tried to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports.
The move came as US President Donald Trump tries to keep economic pressure on the Islamic Republic.
US Central Command said the vessel had ignored warnings to stop, prompting an American helicopter to fire missiles into the engine room of the M/V Vela Nova, disabling the ship.