DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A ship in the Red Sea came under attack at least three times Tuesday in an assault that included the use of a bomb-carrying drone boat, likely the latest in a campaign by Yemen's Houthi rebels over the Israel-Hamas war, officials said.
The attacks come as the rebels' main sponsor, Iran, weighs possible retaliation against Israel over the assassination of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh in July, which has renewed fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East.
Already, the Houthi assaults have disrupted the $1 trillion annual flow of goods through the maritime route crucial to trade among Asia, Europe and the Middle East, while also sparking the most intense combat for the U.S. Navy since World War II.
The ship was first attacked as an explosive was detonated near it, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. Then a small vessel “acting suspiciously” flashed a light near the ship and came close, actions that were followed by a second blast, the UKMTO said.
The private security firm Ambrey similarly reported the attacks, saying the ship saw “two ‘close-proximity’ explosions.”
The third attack happened hours later Tuesday, some 180 kilometers (110 miles) northwest of the Houthi-held port city Hodeida, the UKMTO said. A drone boat attacked the vessel but “was successfully disabled,” it added. Armed private security forces on vessels have begun opening fire on the drones to detonate the explosives onboard.
Ambrey said the same ship was targeted in all three attacks.
The Houthis have not claimed the assault, though sometimes they wait days to do so, and other times have claimed attacks that don't appear to have happened.
The Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels with missiles and drones since the start of the war in Gaza in October. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that has killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have been either intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels maintain that they have targeted ships linked to Israel, the United States or the U.K. to force an end to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have also launched drones and missiles toward Israel, including an attack on July 19 that killed one person and wounded 10 others in Tel Aviv. Israel responded the next day with airstrikes on the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida that hit fuel depots and electrical stations, killing and wounding a number of people, the rebels say.
After the strikes, the Houthis paused their attacks until Aug. 3, when they hit a Liberian-flagged container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden. A Liberian-flagged oil tanker came under a particularly intense series of attacks beginning Aug. 8 likely carried out by the rebels.
As Iran threatens to retaliate over Haniyeh, the U.S. military has told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. America also has ordered the the USS Georgia guided missile submarine into the Mideast, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group had been in the Gulf of Oman. Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region, while the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea.
