Two attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels hit ships in the Red Sea

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted ships in the Red Sea on Monday as a new U.S. aircraft carrier approached the region to ensure security along the crucial international trade route that has been under attack since war between Israel and Hamas broke out nine months ago.

Three small Houthi ships, two crewed and one unmanned, attacked the Panamanian-flagged, Israeli-owned MT Bently I off the coast of Al Hudaydah in Yemen, according to British and American authorities.

The “unmanned small boat collided with the ship twice and the two manned small boats fired at the ship,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center reported. “The ship took self-protection measures and after 15 minutes the small boat aborted the attack.”

The captain later reported three separate waves of missile attacks exploding in the immediate vicinity of the ship.

Later on Monday, in a separate incident off the same coast, the MT Chios Lion, a Liberian-flagged oil tanker owned by the Marshall Islands, was attacked by a Houthi unmanned aerial vehicle, which “impacted the port side causing some damage and light smoke,” according to the UKMTO.

Both ships and their entire crew are safe and sound, the UKMTO said in a warning to seafarers.

Late Monday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks on Bently I and Chios Lion.

Early Tuesday, the US Central Command confirmed the attacks and identified the names and flags of the ships.

“This ongoing reckless behavior by the Iran-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of sailors in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the Central Command said in a statement. “The Houthis claim to act on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza, yet they target and threaten the lives of third-country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza.”

Also on Monday, the Central Command said US forces had destroyed five Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles, three over the Red Sea and two in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is approaching the Middle East to relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which spent months in the Red Sea fighting the Houthis.

The rebels have attacked more than 70 ships with missiles and drones as part of their campaign, killing four sailors. Since November, they have hijacked one ship and sunk two.

In June, the number of Houthi attacks on merchant ships rose to levels not seen since December, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a coalition under the U.S. Navy. U.S.-led airstrikes have targeted the Houthis since January. A series of attacks on May 30 killed at least 16 people and wounded 42 others, according to the rebels.

The Houthis claim that their attacks target ships with links to Israel, the US or Britain because the rebels support the militant Hamas group in its war against Israel. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war – including some bound for Iran, which supports the Houthis.

Last week, the Houthis said they fired missiles at a U.S. container ship in the Gulf of Aden, the closest rebel attack to a U.S.-flagged vessel near the Arabian Sea, authorities said. The JMIC identified the ship as the Maersk Sentosa. Maersk, a Danish company and the world’s largest shipping company, confirmed to The Associated Press that its ship had been attacked.