A missile strike on a commercial ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday killed at least four crew members, Reuters has reported, in an attack blamed on Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, though the group has yet to take credit.
The Reuters report said that the Tihamah, a small, Egyptian-owned cargo ship, was hit while it was at anchor near Perim, an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, and that three Pakistanis and one Indonesian were killed.
Ansar Allah has launched multiple attacks on Saudi-linked shipping as part of its enforcement of a new maritime blockade it imposed on Saudi Arabia following Saudi strikes that targeted the Sanaa International Airport in mid-July. If it’s confirmed that Ansar Allah was responsible for the attack, it would mark the first deaths in its attacks on ships since the blockade was first imposed on July 20.
Ansar Allah has also been carrying out strikes targeting oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen, which have inflicted dozens of casualties. Media reports have said that Saudi Arabia is preparing for a potential major escalation in Yemen, which could involve a ground offensive.
The Saudi strikes on the Sanaa airport, which were backed by the US, reignited the war between the two sides after a ceasefire had held relatively well since 2022. The purpose of bombing the airport was to prevent a plane from landing that had taken off from Iran and was carrying a Yemeni delegation that attended the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US and Saudi officials claimed the airliner was also carrying weapons and IRGC advisors.
Ansar Allah has controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 and governs an area of northwestern Yemen where the majority of Yemenis live. The Saudi and Western-backed government, which is recognized internationally, is based in the port city of Aden, though its leadership is based in Riyadh.
