Yemen’s Houthi rebels likely launch boat attack on merchant ship in Red Sea

ABOARD THE USS LABOON IN THE RED SEA — Yemen’s Houthi rebels are believed to have launched a bomb attack from a boat on a merchant ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday, the British military said, the latest escalation despite a US-led campaign to protect the vital waterway.

The use of a boat loaded with explosives was reminiscent of the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, when al-Qaeda carried out a suicide attack on the warship while it was docked in Aden harbor, killing 17 people on board. Associated Press journalists saw the Cole in the Red Sea on Wednesday, where it is now taking part in the U.S. campaign, while visiting one of its sister ships, the USS Laboon.

The Houthis did not immediately admit to the attack, but it usually takes hours or even days for them to acknowledge their attacks. The rebels had planned a military statement for Wednesday evening.

In a warning to shipowners, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the ship had been hit on the stern by a small white boat southwest of the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah.

The captain “reports that the vessel is taking on water and is not under the command of the crew,” the UKMTO said. He “also reports that the vessel has been struck a second time by an unknown aerial projectile.”

It was also not immediately clear whether the attack was carried out by humans on board or by a remote-controlled drone boat. However, the Houthis have so far used drone boats in their campaign and are not known to have carried out suicide attacks.

The Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital nearly a decade ago and have recently been battling a Saudi-led coalition, have attacked ships throughout the Red Sea corridor in connection with the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. They say the attacks are aimed at ending the war and supporting the Palestinians, although the strikes often hit vessels unrelated to the conflict.

More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war, while hundreds more have been killed in Israeli operations in the West Bank. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.

According to the US Maritime Administration, the Houthis have carried out more than 50 attacks on ships since November, killing three sailors, hijacking one ship and sinking another. Since January, the Houthis have been the target of a US-led airstrike campaign. In a series of attacks on May 30, at least 16 people were killed and 42 others injured, according to the rebels.

AP journalists on a U.S. Navy ship were interviewing Commander Eric Blomberg, commander of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Laboon, when alerts about the attack came in. Blomberg took several calls from sailors aboard the ship providing updates on the suspected attack. The Laboon is one of the destroyers that accompany the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and both have fired under Houthi fire and escorted ships through the region.

Although he and others stressed at the time that they were still investigating the attack, he stressed that it appeared the ship attacked had nothing to do with the war.

The Houthis “have attacked ships that have no connection to the United States or Israel,” Blomberg said. “These are just innocent merchant ships transporting goods through the Red Sea, trying to transport them in the most cost-effective way, and they pay for it.”