Source: Al Jazeera
Surge in Red Sea attacks after months of calm potentially signals revival of Houthis’ campaign over Gaza war.
Six crew members have been rescued from a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea, according to a European Union naval force, after an attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The assault, which sank the Greek-owned vessel on Wednesday, also killed at least four sailors and left 15 others missing, the Reuters news agency reported, citing maritime officials.
The Houthis said the attack on the Eternity C had been conducted on Monday using an unmanned boat and missiles, and was carried out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, to pressure the Israeli military to end its assault on the besieged enclave.
The group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said that the Eternity C had been headed towards Israel, and that the Houthis had also “responded to rescue a number of the ship’s crew, provide them with medical care, and transport them to a safe location”.
The rebels released a video they said depicted their attack on Eternity C. It included a call for the crew to evacuate and showed explosions on the ship before it sank.
The United States Mission in Yemen accused the Houthis of kidnapping many surviving crew members from Eternity C and called for their immediate and unconditional safe release.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO), run by the British military, had said on Tuesday that the ship sustained “significant damage” and “lost all propulsion”.
UK-based security firm Ambrey told the AFP news agency that the badly damaged vessel had sunk off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, which is under the control of the Houthis.
The European Union’s Operation Aspides said it had rescued five Filipinos and one Indian from the 22-member crew and three-member security team.
Calls for support
Leading shipping industry associations, including the International Chamber of Shipping and BIMCO, denounced the deadly operation and called for robust maritime security in the region via a joint statement on Wednesday.
“These vessels have been attacked with callous disregard for the lives of innocent civilian seafarers,” they said.
“This tragedy illuminates the need for nations to maintain robust support in protecting shipping and vital sea lanes.”
The attack on the Eternity C came one day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for attacking another cargo ship, the Magic Seas, in the Red Sea, causing it to sink. All the crew were rescued.
The assaults mark the first attacks on shipping in the Red Sea since late 2024, potentially signalling the start of a new armed campaign threatening the waterway, which had begun to see more traffic in recent weeks.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis launched more than 100 attacks targeting commercial vessels, sinking two ships, seizing another and killing at least four seafarers.
After Sunday’s attack on the Magic Seas, the Houthis declared that ships owned by companies with ties to Israel were a “legitimate target”, and pledged to “prevent Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas … until the aggression against Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted”.
Yemen’s exiled government, the European Union’s Operation Aspides military force and the US State Department had already blamed the rebels for the attack on Eternity C before the Houthis claimed responsibility.
“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
“The United States has been clear: We will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks,” she added.
Washington and the Houthis agreed to a deal on May 6 that ended a US bombing campaign against the group, in exchange for the rebels stopping attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea.
However, the Houthis said that the deal did not stop them from attacking Israeli-linked shipping.
The Eternity C had been heading north towards the Suez Canal when it came under fire by men in small boats and bomb-carrying drones on Monday night, with security guards on board firing their weapons, according to Operation Aspides and Ambrey, cited by The Associated Press news agency.
The Eternity C’s operator, Cosmoship Management, has not commented on casualties or injuries.
If confirmed, the four reported deaths would be the first deaths from attacks on shipping in the Red Sea since June 2024.
In separate incidents, Israel’s military and the Houthis also exchanged strikes on Sunday, with Israel saying it had bombed three ports and a power plant in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, prompting the Iran-allied group to fire more missiles towards Israeli territory.
Israel said it struck the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and as-Salif on the Red Sea coast as well as the Ras Kathib power plant.
It said it also struck a radar system on the Galaxy Leader, which was seized by the Houthis and remains docked in the port of Hodeidah.
