Sunday’s naval engagement in the Red Sea, where Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen —  who routinely chant “Death to Israel” — fired missiles at three cargo ships, two of which have British ownership, occurred as they plied international waters, intending to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Though Houthi spokesman, General Yahya Saree, claimed this was an attack on two Israeli ships, a statement by U.S. Central Command on X confirmed there were four attacks on three international cargo vessels with no meaningful ties to Israel. The American Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, United States Ship Carney, came to the aid of the three vessels, shooting down three drones which were launched from Yemen and heading towards the American ship. 

In October, the Carney had shot down three cruise missiles and multiple drones, which the Pentagon confirmed were likely aimed at Israel. The first sign of the attacks was at 9:15 a.m. Sanaa time, when the Carney was patrolling the Red Sea and detected an anti-ship ballistic missile attack, which struck near the British Motor Vessel Unity Explorer. 

Though unharmed in this first attack, the Unity Explorer was hit again less than three and a half hours later, with the Carney responding to its distress call. There were no casualties in either attack, but during the Carney‘s assistance with damage assessment they detected and destroyed another drone, which had been heading their way; and only half an hour earlier, as the Carney plied international waters, it “engaged and shot down” another UAV.

At 3:30 p.m., the British and Bahamas owned cargo ship Motor Vessel Number 9 was hit by a missile as it travelled through international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, and an hour later, the cargo ship Motor Vessel Sophie II issued a distress call that it  too had been hit by a missile. There were no casualties on either ship, though reports suggest Number 9 was at risk of sinking.

Speaking to the press in Tel Aviv, the IDF spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, did not refer to the Number 9 and Unity Explorer by name but stated “One ship was significantly damaged and it is in distress and apparently is in danger of sinking and another ship was lightly damaged.”

As of Sunday night, the owners of Number 9, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, told Reuters that Number 9 is currently sailing and that there were no injuries or reported pollution from the attack. En route to support Sophie II, the Carney destroyed another drone. 

During his statement, Rear Admiral Hagari also underlined that the ships lack “a connection to the state of Israel. I will repeat that so it’s clear: without any connection to the state of Israel.”

This is but the latest of a growing series of attacks from war-torn Yemen on Western ships. The most notable has been the Houthi assault, two weeks ago, on the British cargo ship Galaxy Leader, with the terrorists landing by helicopter, and storming the bridge. They would release footage of the attack on their propaganda TV channel, Al Masirah, and though the ship is owned by a company from the Isle of Man, Ray Car Carriers, and Japanese operated, Yahya Sarea referred to it as Israeli in his announcement of the attack on November 19th. Galaxy Leader had been travelling, with its 25 crew members, through the southern Red Sea.

In their statement, the Houthis said this attack on a civilian ship manned by an international crew was in support of the “the oppressed Palestinian people,” and that they would not cease their attacks on Israeli ships “until the aggression on Gaza stops.” Only nine days later, the Houthis would hijack the tanker Central Park, with ownership linked to Israelis, that was manned by 22 crew members, none of whom were Israelis. A U.S. destroyer came to the rescue and secured the vessel.

Given the importance of the Bab al-Mandab Strait for international oil and gas trade — connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal — attacks of this kind are, as U.S. Central Command stated, “a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security.” The statement vowed that America would consider “all appropriate responses in full coordination with its international allies and partners.”

Israel’s war is to defend itself from a terrorist group, which seeks to destroy the country; but Hamas is just one face of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” alongside the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, the terrorist umbrella group Islamic Resistance in Iraq, and the Houthis, who have been waging a full-scale civil war in Yemen for the last decade.