The U.S. military says the container ship was hit off the coast of Yemen but continued its journey.
Houthi rebels in Yemen struck a U.S.-owned and operated container ship with an anti-ship ballistic missile off the coast of Yemen, U.S. Central Command said.
In a statement Monday, the U.S. military said no injuries or significant damage had been reported and that the Marshall Islands-flagged Gibraltar Eagle was continuing its journey following the incident in the Gulf of Aden. .
The Yemeni rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“All American and British ships and warships involved in aggression against our country are considered hostile targets,” military spokesman Yahya Saree said.
He said no future US or British attacks on Yemen would go “unpunished”.
Earlier, Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said a ship was hit from above by a missile 95 nautical miles southeast of Aden, without identifying the ship.
British maritime security company Ambrey said three missiles were believed to have been launched by the Houthis, two of which did not reach the sea and the third of which hit the bulk carrier. The impact reportedly caused a fire in a hold, but the bulk carrier remained seaworthy and there were no injuries on board. It was felt that the ship was not affiliated with Israel.
The attack on the ship comes less than a day after the Houthis launched an anti-ship cruise missile at a US destroyer in the Red Sea, US officials said.
The Houthis control western Yemen, including the strategically critical Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which leads to the Red Sea and up to the Suez Canal.
Since the start of the Israeli war in Gaza, they have attacked ships in the area that they claim are linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports.
They claim they are attacking the ships to pressure Israel to end its attack on Gaza and ease restrictions on the supply of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population. Israel has been at war with Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, for more than three months.
US and British forces responded to Houthi attacks last week by carrying out dozens of air and sea strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis, has promised revenge. On Thursday, he said that “any attack on Yemen’s Houthis by the United States will not go unanswered.”
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Mike Hanna reported from Washington DC that US officials estimate that after last week’s strikes, the Houthis retained about three-quarters of their ability to fire missiles and launch drones.
“This recent attack on a US cargo ship was apparently launched from the city of Hodeidah, which has been the target of US-British strikes in recent days,” Hanna said.
“So the ante is up in terms of what’s going on…the situation is very dire and it’s something that U.S. intelligence is monitoring very closely. »
Omar Rahman, a member of the Middle East Global Affairs Council, said one-off strikes targeting Houthi facilities would not reduce the group’s capacity or deter them from attacking ships in the Red Sea.
“What the US and UK are doing is not strategically justifiable. This is only justifiable if you consider what the Houthis are doing in the Red Sea independent of what is happening in Gaza and the rest of the region,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“The US and UK ignore the source of the crisis, namely the genocide in Gaza, but they also enable it,” Rahman said. “They are trying to prevent broader regional escalation by taking military action against the hot spots that arise from what is happening in Gaza.”
