Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship traveling through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea on Monday, though it escaped undamaged, authorities said.
The attack ended an 18-day lull in reported assaults attributed to the Houthis, who have been attacking ships traveling through the Red Sea corridor for nearly a year now over the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. The violence has disrupted international shipping through the region, once valued at $1 trillion in goods annually.
The vessel passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Peninsula from East Africa, reported the attack, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
The ship’s captain reported two explosions near the ship, though “the vessel and all crew are reported as safe,” the UKMTO added.