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Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have staged their first successful attack with a sea drone since they began targeting ships in November, underscoring the rebel group’s persistent threat to commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The Royal Navy’s UK’s Maritime Trade Operations office on Wednesday said it received reports of a ship being struck on the stern about 66 nautical miles south-west of Yemen’s Hodeida port, by a white craft up to seven metres in length.
The vessel’s master warned it was taking on water and not under the command of the crew, before reporting that it had been struck for a second time by an airborne projectile.
Maritime security consultancy EOS Risk added separately that the ship, a Liberian-flagged dry-bulk carrier named Tutor, had been hit “likely by a Houthi unmanned surface vessel”.
EOS Risk added that although multiple reports indicated Houthi USVs have been deployed in the Red Sea, this would be the first successful attack since the militant group began targeting vessels in a show of support for Gaza’s Palestinians during Israel’s war with Hamas.
The new unmanned attack underlines the Houthis’ commitment to continuing the assaults that have endangered crews and are sending shockwaves across the global economy, delaying exports and driving up the cost of shipping as many shipowners avoid the Red Sea and take a much longer route around Africa.
Shipowners have recently said they are preparing for the attacks to disrupt shipments throughout the year, while some retailers are booking deliveries several months in advance of the peak shopping period before Christmas.
In 2017, the Houthis previously used an USV to attack a Saudi Arabian warship, EOS Risk said.
Despite the UN Security Council this week passing a resolution backing US President Joe Biden’s plan for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, shipowners including leading tanker owner Frontline have cast doubt on whether a halt to the fighting in Gaza would prompt the Houthis to pull back.
“They are not going to let go [their hold over the global economy],” said Dimitris Maniatis, chief executive of shipping security provider and consultancy Marisks. “It is too much of a power trip.”
Although the Houthis have targeted vessels regularly since November, the latest attack marks a rare occasion where they appear to have inflicted significant structural damage.
Another bulk carrier, the Laax, reportedly started taking on water after being hit by missiles on May 29.
And in an incident that shook the global shipping industry in March, the Houthi attacks claimed their first fatalities with a strike on the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier True Confidence, killing three seafarers and injuring two.
This story has been amended to clarify Dimitris Maniatis’s title.
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