Dubai, United Arab Emirates — A number of individuals stay lacking Wednesday following an assault by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship within the Purple Sea.
Six castaway crew members of the Greek-owned Eternity C have been recovered from the ocean, a European Union naval pressure mentioned Wednesday. The Houthi rebels killed three mariners and wounded two others, the EU Operation Aspides mentioned, and a number of other crew members have been kidnapped, in accordance with the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.
“We name for his or her speedy and unconditional protected launch,” the U.S. Embassy mentioned in a press release. “The Houthis proceed to indicate the world why the US was proper to label them a terrorist group.”
A press release from the EU naval mission within the Purple Sea mentioned the crew of the ship included 22 sailors, amongst them 21 Filipinos and one Russian, in addition to a three-member safety crew. These rescued have been 5 Filipinos and one Indian.
The assault on the service provider vessel adopted a declare by the Houthis to have attacked and sank one other vessel on Monday within the Purple Sea, an important maritime commerce route.
The dual assaults are the primary Houthi assaults on transport since November 2024 and will sign the beginning of a brand new marketing campaign by the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels threatening the waterway, which had begun to see extra ships cross by it in current weeks.
The Eternity C bulk service had been heading north towards the Suez Canal when it got here beneath fireplace by males in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones on Monday night time. Safety guards on board additionally fired their weapons. The European Union Operation Aspides and the personal safety agency Ambrey each reported these particulars.
Whereas the Houthis have not claimed the assault, Yemen’s exiled authorities and the EU pressure blamed the rebels for the assault.
The EU pressure provided the casualty data, saying one of many wounded crew members misplaced his leg within the assault. The crew stay caught on board the vessel, which is now drifting within the Purple Sea.
The Houthis individually attacked the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk service Magic Seas on Sunday with drones, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fireplace, forcing its crew of twenty-two to desert the vessel. The rebels later mentioned the Magic Seas sank within the Purple Sea.
Nektarios Papadakis/Handout through REUTERS
The 2 assaults, and a spherical of Israeli airstrikes early Monday morning concentrating on infrastructure in rebel-held areas of Yemen, have raised fears of a renewed Houthi marketing campaign towards transport that would once more attract U.S. and Western forces, significantly after President Trump’s administration focused the rebels in a significant airstrike marketing campaign in April.
The assaults come at a delicate second within the Center East, as a attainable ceasefire within the Israel-Hamas struggle hangs within the steadiness, and as Iran weighs whether or not to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes concentrating on its most delicate atomic websites in the course of the Israel-Iran struggle in June.
The Houthis began launching strikes towards vessels within the Purple Sea, together with U.S. warships, and towards Israel, in what they describe as solidarity with the Palestinians, quickly after Hamas sparked the struggle in Gaza by launching its unprecedented terrorist assault on Israel in October 2023.
The most recent assaults have additionally increase new questions in regards to the Purple Sea’s security as ships had slowly begun returning to its waters.
“We at the moment are with grave concern seeing an escalation within the Purple Sea with assaults on two industrial ships earlier this week by Ansar Allah, leading to civilian lack of life and casualties in addition to the potential for environmental injury,” warned United Nations particular envoy Hans Grundberg, utilizing one other identify for the rebels.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis focused greater than 100 service provider vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing 4 sailors. Their marketing campaign has significantly decreased the movement of commerce by the Purple Sea hall, which usually sees $1 trillion of products transfer by it yearly. Transport by the Purple Sea, whereas nonetheless decrease than regular, has elevated in current weeks.
The Houthis paused assaults till the U.S. launched a broad assault towards the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis hadn’t attacked a vessel till this weekend, although they did proceed occasional missile assaults concentrating on Israel.
