Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility Wednesday for a deadly attack earlier this week that sank a merchant vessel, the second ship to be hit in less than 24 hours as the rebels resume their campaign in the key waterway.
Operation Aspides, the EU naval task force deployed to the Red Sea in response to the Houthi attacks, has said three people were killed and at least two injured in the attack on the Eternity C, which first came under fire on Monday.
"The naval force of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted the ship Eternity C," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and saying the vessel was headed towards Eilat in Israel.
The attack was carried out with an unmanned vessel and six cruise and ballistic missiles, he added.
Saree said the Houthis had "moved to rescue a number of the ship's crew, provide them with medical care, and transport them to a safe location."
Operation Aspides said on Wednesday that 19 people who had been aboard the Eternity C were still missing, with search and rescue operations ongoing. Six people who were aboard the ship have been rescued, it said.
Saree warned "all companies dealing with the ports of occupied Palestine (Israel) that their ships and crews will be targeted" until Israel is forced to "lift the siege on our brothers in Gaza, cease the aggression against them and end the ongoing war."
The Houthis, who have controlled large swathes of Yemen for more than a decade, began targeting Israel and ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden not long after the Gaza war broke out in October 2023.
The rebels previously claimed an attack that took place on Sunday against another vessel, the Magic Seas.
That attack forced the crew to abandon the ship, which the Houthis later boarded and scuttled with explosives.
AFP
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