Two suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels strike ships in the Red Sea

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted ships in the Red Sea on Monday, as a new U.S. aircraft carrier approached the region to provide security for the key international trade route that has been under assault since the Israel-Hamas war erupted nine months ago.

The captain of the first targeted ship reported being attacked by three small vessels off the coast of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said, adding that two of the vessels were crewed and another uncrewed.

The “reported unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and the 2 manned small craft fired at the vessel,” the UKMTO reported. ”The vessel conducted self-protection measures, after 15 minutes the small craft aborted the attack.”

The captain later reported two separate waves of missile attacks, approximately 45 minutes apart, that exploded in close proximity to the vessel.

Later on Monday, in a separate incident also off the coast of Al Hudaydah, a vessel reported being attacked by a suspected uncrewed Houthi aerial vehicle, which “impacted on the port side causing some damage and light smoke,” the UKMTO reported.

Both ships and all crew are reported safe, the UKMTO said in a warning to mariners. Names and flags of the ships were not immediately known.

The Houthis did not immediately comment on either incident. However, it can take hours or even days before they acknowledge carrying out an attack.

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is approaching the Middle East to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which spent months in the Red Sea to counter the Houthis.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Sunday that its forces destroyed two uncrewed Houthi aerial vehicles and an uncrewed surface vessel in the Red Sea.

The rebels have targeted more than 70 vessels by firing missiles and drones in their campaign, killing four sailors. They seized one vessel and sank two since November.

In June, the number of Houthi attacks on merchant vessels increased to levels not seen since December, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a coalition which is overseen by the U.S. Navy. U.S.-led airstrikes have targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes on May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

The Houthis maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain, as part of the rebels’ support for the militant group Hamas in its war against Israel. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war — including some bound for Iran, which backs the Houthis.

Last week, the Houthis said they launched missiles at a U.S.-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Aden, marking what authorities acknowledged as the rebels’ longest-range attack yet on a U.S.-flagged vessel near the Arabian Sea. The JMIC identified the ship as the Maersk Sentosa. Maersk, a Danish firm that is the world’s biggest shipping company, confirmed to The Associated Press that its vessel had been targeted.