A missile fired from Yemen struck a U.S.-owned ship just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after Yemen鈥檚 Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, officials said.
Suspicion immediately fell on the Iranian-backed Houthis, though the rebels did not immediately acknowledge carrying out the assault on the Gibraltar Eagle. It marked amid Israel鈥檚 war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis have targeted that crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe over , attacks that threaten to widen that conflict into a regional conflagration.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, said Monday鈥檚 attack happened some 110 miles (177 kilometers) miles southeast of Aden. It said the ship鈥檚 captain reported that the 鈥減ort side of vessel hit from above by a missile.鈥�
Private security firms Ambrey and Dryad Global told The Associated Press that the vessel was the Eagle Gibraltar, a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier.
The ship is owned by Eagle Bulk, a Stamford, Connecticut-based firm traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Satellite-tracking data analyzed by the AP showed the Eagle Gibraltar had been bound for the Suez Canal, but rapidly turned around at the time of the attack.
The U.S. Navy鈥檚 Mideast-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Yemen鈥檚 Houthi rebels did not acknowledge any attack, though they have fired missiles previously in that area.
Sunday鈥檚 attack toward the American warship also marked the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea.
It wasn鈥檛 presently clear whether the U.S. would retaliate for the latest attacks, though President Joe Biden has said he 鈥渨ill not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.鈥�
The Houthi fire on Sunday went in the direction of the USS Laboon, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, the U.S. military鈥檚 Central Command said in a statement.
The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge that attack either.
The missile came from near Hodeida, a Red Sea port city long held by the Houthis, the U.S. said.
鈥淎n anti-ship cruise missile was fired from Iranian-backed Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon,鈥� Central Command said. 鈥淭here were no injuries or damage reported.鈥�
The first day of U.S.-led strikes Friday hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets with cruise missiles and bombs launched by fighter jets, warships and a submarine. Sites hit included weapon depots, radars and command centers, including in remote mountain areas, the U.S. has said.
The Houthis have yet to acknowledge how severe the damage was from the strikes, which they said killed five of their troops and wounded six others.
U.S. forces followed up with .
Shipping through the Red Sea has slowed over the attacks. The U.S. Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for 72 hours after the initial airstrikes.
For their part, the Houthis alleged without providing evidence that the U.S. struck a site near Hodeida on Sunday around the same time as the cruise missile fire. The Americans and the United Kingdom did not acknowledge conducting any strike 鈥� suggesting the blast may have been from a misfiring Houthi missile.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying they were avenging . But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade.
Even the leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, obliquely referenced the widening Houthi attacks on ships in a speech Sunday, saying that 鈥渢he sea has become a battlefield of missiles, drones and warships鈥� and blaming the U.S. strikes for escalating maritime tensions.
鈥淭he most dangerous thing is what the Americans did in the Red Sea, (it) will harm the security of all maritime navigation,鈥� Nasrallah said.
Though the Biden administration and its allies have tried to for weeks and prevent any wider conflict, the strikes in the Red Sea threaten to ignite one.
It鈥檚 also affecting shipping for the Middle East nation of Qatar, one of the world鈥檚 top natural gas suppliers. Three liquid natural gas tankers that had recently loaded in Qatar and were bound for the Suez Canal remain idling off Oman, while another coming from Europe to Qatar remains off Saudi Arabia. QatarEnergy and government officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government-in-exile that the Houthis are fighting, sought to distance itself from the attacks on Houthi sites as it tries to maintain a delicate d茅tente with Iran and a cease-fire it has in Yemen. The Saudi-led, U.S.-backed war in Yemen that began in 2015 has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world鈥檚 worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
The American military did not specifically say the fire targeted the Laboon, following a pattern by the U.S. since the Houthi attacks began. However, U.S. sailors have received combat ribbons for their actions in the Red Sea 鈥� something handed out only to those who face active hostilities with an enemy force.
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