A suspected attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels hits a ship in the Red Sea

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship 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.

The ship’s captain reported being attacked by three small boats, two manned and one unmanned, off the coast of Al Hudaydah in Yemen, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said.

The “unmanned small boat collided with the ship twice and the two manned small boats fired at the ship,” the UKMTO reported. “The ship took self-protection measures and after 15 minutes the small boat broke off the attack.”

The captain later reported two separate waves of rocket attacks, about 45 minutes apart, exploding in the immediate vicinity of the ship. The ship, whose name and flag were not disclosed, and all crew are safe, the UKMTO said in an alert to sailors.

The Houthis did not comment immediately. However, it may take hours or even days for them to admit to an attack.

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 US Central Command said in a statement on Sunday that its forces had destroyed two Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and an unmanned surface vessel in the Red Sea.

The rebels have attacked more than 70 ships with missiles and drones during their offensive, killing four sailors. Since November, they have captured 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.

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The Houthis claim that their attacks target ships with links to Israel, the US or Britain as part of the rebels’ support for 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.

Michael Wakin, Associated Press