A Greek-flagged oil tanker traveling through the Red Sea came under repeated attack Wednesday, leaving the vessel “not under command” and drifting ablaze after an assault suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Houthi militants, the British military said. The attack, the most serious in the Red Sea in weeks, comes during a months long campaign by Houthis targeting ships over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that has disrupted a trade route through which $1 trillion in cargo typically passes each year. In the attack, men on small boats first opened fire with small arms about 140 kilometers (90 miles) west of the Houthi-held Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. Four projectiles also hit the ship, it added. It wasn’t immediately clear if that meant drones or missiles. “The vessel reports being not under command,” the UKMTO said, likely meaning it lost all power. “No casualties reported.” Later, the UKMTO warned the ship was drifting while on fire in the Red Sea. The Greek shipping ministry later identified the vessel as the tanker Sounion, which had 25 crew members on board at the time of the attack as it traveled from Iraq to Cyprus.
Later Wednesday, the UKMTO reported a second ship being targeted in the Gulf of Aden by three explosions that occurred in the water close to it, though they caused no damage. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks, though it can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge their assaults. However, they did acknowledge US airstrikes in Hodeidah, something the American military’s Central Command said destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile and radar system. The last three recent attacks, including Wednesday’s, targeted vessels associated with Delta Tankers, a Greek company. Early Thursday, the US military’s Central Command said the Lincoln had reached the Mideast’s waters, without elaborating.
