Ship comes under attack off coast of Yemen

A boat in the Gulf of Aden was attacked on Thursday. Officials believe it was done by Yemen’s Houthi rebels because of the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The attack happened after the US military said on Thursday that a friendly warship destroyed a missile aimed at a ship the day before in the same area. The Houthis said they were responsible for the attack on Wednesday. This comes after there were not many rebel attacks on ships in the area because of Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in Gaza.

On Thursday, a ship was attacked about 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Aden, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.

The captain told the UKMTO that he heard a loud noise and saw something splash and smoke in the sea. “The ship and everyone on board are okay. ”

Ambrey, a private security company, also reported the attack.

The Houthis did not admit to the attack right away, but they usually take hours to do so. The European Union’s forces shot down a drone from Houthi territory on Thursday, according to Gen Robert Brieger.

The Houthis have attacked ships more than 50 times, took one ship, and made another one sink since November, the US Maritime Administration says.

Houthi attacks are happening less often because the rebels are being attacked by the US and other countries in Yemen. Also, shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has decreased because of the danger. Officials in America think that the rebels might not have many weapons left because of the attacks by the US and the constant use of drones and missiles in recent months.

However, the attack on Wednesday was the first one from rebels in a while. An explosion happened about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden, according to the UKMTO.

On Thursday, the US military said that a coalition warship shot down a missile that was probably aimed at the MV Yorktown, a US-owned ship with 18 American and four Greek crew members.

Central Command said that no one got hurt or things broken on US, coalition, or commercial ships.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree, who speaks for the Houthi military, said they were responsible for the attack. However, he had no proof that their missile actually hit the Yorktown. Saree said the Houthis attacked another ship in the Indian Ocean, but didn’t show any proof. The Houthis have often said things that weren’t true during their war in Yemen.

The Houthis will keep attacking until Israel stops fighting in Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed. The fighting started when the group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and killed 1,200 people. They also took about 250 people as hostages.

The ships attacked by the Houthis mostly have nothing to do with Israel, the US, or other countries in the war. The rebels tried to shoot missiles at Israel, but most of the missiles didn’t reach or were stopped.