Two missiles were fired at a vessel off the southeast coast of the Yemeni city of Aden on Thursday, causing a fire onboard, Britain's maritime agencies said, as Houthis keep up attacks on shipping to show support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
The Iran-backed Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, have disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait in recent months © Mena Today
Two missiles were fired at a vessel off the southeast coast of the Yemeni city of Aden on Thursday, causing a fire onboard, Britain's maritime agencies said, as Houthis keep up attacks on shipping to show support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
British maritime security firm Ambrey identified the vessel as a Palau-flagged, UK-owned general cargo ship which was headed in the direction of the Red Sea from Thailand.
U.S.-led coalition forces are responding to the incident, which took place 70 nautical miles from Aden, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said, without elaborating.
"It has been reported that a vessel was attacked by two missiles, resulting in a fire on board," the UKMTO said.
The Iran-backed Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, have disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait in recent months, forcing firms to take a longer, more expensive route around Africa.
The attacks in the Red Sea have raised concerns that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza will create further instability across the already volatile, oil-rich Middle East.
As well as the trade disruption caused by the Houthis, Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has frequently exchanged fire across the border with Israel, while pro-Iranian militias have attacked U.S. forces in Iraq.
The United States has formed an international coalition to protect maritime navigation in the Red Sea in response to the Houthi attacks.
Reporting by Nayera Abdallah, Ahmed Elimam, Tala Ramadan,and Jana Choukeir
U.S. President Donald Trump accused Iran of being "devious negotiators" in an interview released late on Monday and described some of his current options in the war — "just bop along" and let Tehran fail economically or hit them "really, really hard."
Leaking crude oil from a tanker grounded off a nature reserve in Oman has created a slick covering almost 400 square kilometres, the country's government said on Monday.
Iran said on Sunday that a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz was in its final stages but reiterated that the waterway would only reopen once the United States met other conditions.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.