A cargo ship reported being attacked by “unidentified armed assailants” off Yemen’s Red Sea coast on Sunday, the British military said, as authorities investigated the incident near the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah.The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the incident occurred about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) southwest of the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah.
The UKMTO said the ship reported being attacked by unidentified gunmen, and that the incident was being investigated by authorities.The incident comes days after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen renewed their threats to target commercial shipping.
While the group has not resumed attacks in recent weeks, its previous drone and missile strikes on ships crossing the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea during the Gaza war forced many global shipping companies to reroute traffic around the southern tip of Africa instead of using the Suez Canal, according to the AP.The latest naval warning also comes in the wake of renewed fighting on the ground in Yemen. Earlier on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported that at least 14 soldiers allied with Yemen’s internationally recognized government were killed in clashes with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels south of Hodeidah.
The fighting began late Friday in the Jabal Dubas area of Hays District. A military officer told the news agency that 14 government soldiers were killed and 23 others wounded in “heavy fighting,” adding that Houthi fighters briefly overran government positions before a counterattack regained control by dawn on Saturday.The officer described the attack as the Houthis’ “deadliest attack in years,” saying the rebels relied on snipers before launching drone and mortar attacks.Maritime security threats in the region are not limited to the Houthis. On July 1, suspected Somali pirates attacked a ship about 76 nautical miles (140 kilometers) south of the Yemeni port of Balhaf, with four armed men on a small vessel causing minor damage to the ship’s bridge, according to the UK Maritime Trade Watch Organization (UKMTO).
