Sanaa, Yemen – Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired a missile at a cargo ship en route to Saudi Arabia on Thursday but missed, a US official and a private intelligence firm said.
No one was hurt in the incident involving the Maersk Gibraltar, which was sailing from Salalah, Oman to Jeddah, the Danish shipping giant said.
“The crew and vessel is reported safe,” Maersk said in a statement, adding that the company was “still working to establish the facts of the incident”.
The Iran-backed rebels later claimed the attack, saying the ship was “targeted with a drone and the hit was direct”.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack came after the ship’s crew “refused to respond to the calls of the Yemeni naval services”, adding that it came in response to the “oppression of the Palestinian people”.
A US official earlier said “we have indications that a missile was fired at the Maersk Gibraltar from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, and that it hit the water and missed the ship”.
The official was speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to make the statement publicly.
The attack came amid a near-daily stream of drones and missiles fired at ships by the rebels, who say they are supporting the Palestinian side in the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Maersk said that “the recent attacks on commercial vessels… are extremely concerning.
“The current situation puts seafarer lives at risk and is unsustainable for global trade. As it cannot be solved by the global shipping industry on its own, we call on political action to ensure a swift de-escalation.”
Key route
Intelligence firm Ambrey said that the Hong-Kong flagged, Marshall Islands-owned ship was fired upon 45 nautical miles off the coast of Mocha, and also said that the crew was unharmed.
“Ambrey understands that the parent company has cooperated with an Israeli carrier but this particular vessel was not assessed to be Israeli-operated at the time of writing,” the firm said in a statement.
The Houthis previously said they would target any ships travelling off the coast of Yemen bound for Israel, irrespective of ownership.
The attack occurred near Bab al-Mandab, the strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa leading to the Red Sea, a key route toward the Suez Canal and Israel’s southern port of Eilat.
The Maersk Gibraltar is a 340-metre (1,115 foot) container ship built in 2016, according to MarineTraffic.com.
Like they did with several other vessels recently, the Houthis first ordered it to dock in a Yemeni port before firing on it when it did not comply, Ambrey said.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognized internationally, are part of the “axis of resistance”, backed by Iran and arrayed against Israel.
On Saturday, they said they “will prevent the passage of ships heading to the Zionist entity” if food and medicine are not allowed into besieged, Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Regardless of which flag ships sail under or the nationality of their owners or operators, Israel-bound vessels “will become a legitimate target for our armed forces,” the statement said.
US, French and British warships are patrolling the area and several Houthi missiles have been shot down while in flight.