Israel strikes Yemeni ports soon after apparent Houthi attack on Red Sea vessel

Digest opened free editor

Rola Khaleda, FT editor, chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The first suspected attack by the Yemeni Houthis forced a commercial ship this year, the crew of the Greek shipping ship to abandon their ship in the Red Sea on Sunday.

The attack immediately followed the Israeli strikes on a number of Houthi ports in Yemen.

If the attack on the magic seas, an airline, is confirmed by the dry bacterium owned by Greek Stem shipments, as the work of the Houthis, then this will be the first on a trade ship since December by the group, which is supported by Iran.

“The crew had left” terrified “by multiple waves of attacks, which began assaulting by men in Scotf and left the ship taking water.

“They did not know whether they were pirates or Houthis, but it was clear that they were Houthis because there was more and more, and there were missiles,” said Boduroglu.

Martin Kelly, president of the Consulting Company for the EOS Risk Group, said the attack was a “major transformation” by the Iranian -backed group, because it was the first in a long time and because of the size of the attack.

Pointing to the clear use of the zags, the unintended surface ships and the missiles launched from the drones, Kelly said: “They intended to sink this ship.”

Hours after the attack, Israel’s defense minister wrote about Israel that Israel had “hit” targets linked to the Hythonians, including Hodeda, Ants, Ras Issa ports and the power plant.

He added that they also struck the ship of the galaxy that carries cars, which was attacked and seized in the first Houthi attack on the shipment of merchants in November 2023. He said the ship was used in “terrorist activities” in the Red Sea.

The Houthi account wrote: “The Yemeni air defenses actually coincided with the Israeli aggression, forcing a large part of its formations to retreat, thanks to a large group of locally manufactured surface missiles, which caused great confusion between experimental halls and operations in the enemy.”

Boduroglu said the magic seas were carrying a mixture of steel and fertilizers from China to Türkiye. He insisted that the current trip had no links with Israel – and the reason that the Houthis usually mentioned to attack ships – but he confessed to his ships, which are sometimes called Israeli ports.

Boduroglu said the missiles began fires to predict near the arc of the ship and in their second cellar. Fuel tanks were damaged and the engine room was hit, leaving it to take water.

He said that the crew was while giving up the ship, adding that the ship could drown. “The good thing is that none of the crew was injured,” said Boduroglu.

The UK’s Maritime Trade Office later confirmed that the crew had left the ship and was captured by a “transient commercial ship”. The office said the ship was 51 nautical miles southwest of Hudaida, the main port of the Houthis, at the time of the attack.

The Houthis did not demand responsibility immediately. However, no other group has installed similar attacks in the Red Sea in recent years.

The Houthis said they are attacking ships to support the Palestinians in Gaza. The attack on the galaxy leader took place in November 2023 shortly after Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 on Israel.

The group stopped attacking commercial ships in the period before the start of the ceasefire in Gaza in January and has not been resumed since then, despite the collapse of that truce in March.

The group instead focused on the rockets repeatedly firing in targets in Israel, such as the country’s main airport.

In May, US President Donald Trump said that the United States will stop the bombing campaign against the Houthis in response to the assurances of the Iranian -backed group that it would stop its attacks on ships.

Houthi attacks on the commercial ships between November 2023 and December last year were sank, two ships were set, setting fire to three others and killing at least four Marines. The attacks prompted many ship owners to redirect ships away from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal and sail around good hope.