Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi movement said on Sunday it targeted a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Aden, its first attack on the shipping lane since Israel launched a retaliatory air strike on the port of Hodeidah on July 20.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sari said in a televised statement that the MV Grotan was attacked with ballistic missiles.
British maritime agency UKMTO and British security firm Embray said on Saturday that the ship was targeted by a missile 125 nautical miles east of Yemen’s port of Aden. Both said no water ingress or oil spill was observed.
The ship, built in 2002, was heading to Djibouti, according to Refinitiv data.
The attack is the first since the peace came following Israel’s assault on Hodeidah. The attack came a day after the Iran-backed group launched a drone attack on Israel’s economic hub Tel Aviv.
Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The attacks have sparked retaliatory strikes by the US and Britain and disrupted global trade as shipowners rerouted their vessels away from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal and instead took the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.