Houthi Missile Attack Kills 3 Aboard a Ship in Gulf of Aden

This photograph shows a firefighting team from Indian navy vessel INS Kolkata responding to a fire on Liberian-flagged Merchant ship MSC Sky II, caused by a suspected drone/missile attack in the Gulf of Aden on March 5. (Indian Navy on X via AP)

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden killed three of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel March 6, officials said, in the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The attack on the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier True Confidence further escalates the conflict on a crucial maritime route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe that has disrupted global shipping. The Houthis have launched attacks since November, and the U.S. began an airstrike campaign in January that so far hasn't halted their attacks.

A U.S. destroyer separately shot down drones and a missile launched by the Houthis and as the Indian navy released images of it fighting a fire aboard a containership earlier targeted by the rebels.

Meanwhile, Iran announced March 6 that it would confiscate a $50 million cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. aboard a tanker it seized nearly a year earlier. It marks the latest twist in a yearslong shadow war playing out in the Middle East’s waterways even before the Houthi attacks began.

Red Sea Update

On March 5, between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces shot down one anti-ship ballistic missile and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems launched from Iranian-backed Houthi controlled areas of Yemen toward… pic.twitter.com/MtzCKu9YlA — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 5, 2024

The U.S. military's Central Command said an anti-ship ballistic missile launched from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen struck the True Confidence, causing significant damage to the ship. In addition to the three deaths, at least four crew members were wounded, with three in critical condition.

At the State Department in Washington, spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed the loss of life at a briefing with reporters. “We continue to watch these reckless attacks with no regard for the well being of innocent civilians who are transiting through the Red Sea. And now they have, unfortunately and tragically, killed innocent civilians,” he said.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center described the True Confidence as reportedly being hit in the attack and sustaining damage. The extent of the damage to the Liberian-flagged ship remained unclear, but the crew fled the ship and deployed lifeboats — signaling a serious incident, said a U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

A U.S. warship and the Indian navy were on the scene, trying to assist in rescue efforts, the official said.

The Houthis didn’t immediately claim the attack, though it typically takes several hours for them to acknowledge an assault.

Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory.

Despite more than a month and a half of U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels have remained capable of launching significant attacks. They include the attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which sank on March 2 after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.

UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 046
UPDATE 003

ATTACK

Warnings - 2024 (https://t.co/5An1YH0JyE)#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/IOQ232ho1y — United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) March 6, 2024

It was unclear why the Houthis targeted the True Confidence. However, it had previously been owned by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based fund that finances vessels on installments. Oaktree declined to comment.

Meanwhile, a separate Houthi assault March 5 apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American campaign against the rebels.

The Houthi attack on the Carney involved bomb-carrying drones and one antiship ballistic missile, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.

The U.S. later launched an airstrike destroying three antiship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, the Central Command said.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, acknowledged the attack, but claimed its forces targeted two American warships, without elaborating.

The Houthis “will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” Saree said.

Saree did not acknowledge the later U.S. airstrikes. The Houthis haven’t offered any assessment of the damage they’ve suffered in the American-led strikes that began in January, though they’ve said at least 22 of their fighters have been killed.

Meanwhile, the Indian navy released a video of its sailors from the INS Kolkata fighting a fire aboard the MSC Sky II, which had been targeted by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden on March 4. Smoke poured out of one container aboard the vessel, which also showed scorch marks from the impact of a Houthi missile.

The Mediterranean Shipping Co., a Switzerland-based company, said the missile struck the ship as it was traveling from Singapore to Djibouti.

“The missile caused a small fire that has been extinguished while no crew were injured,” the company said.

Iran separately announced the seizure of the crude oil aboard the Advantage Sweet through an announcement carried by the judiciary’s state-run Mizan news agency. At the time, Iranian commandos rappelled from a helicopter onto the vessel, which it alleged collided with another ship, without offering any evidence.

The court order for the seizure offered an entirely different reason for the confiscation. Mizan said it was part of a court order over U.S. sanctions it alleged barred the importation of a Swedish medicine used to treat patients suffering from epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over the body and eyes. It didn’t reconcile the different reasons for the seizure.

The Advantage Sweet had been in the Persian Gulf in late April, but its track showed no unusual behavior as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of all traded oil passes. Iran has made allegations in other seizures that later fell apart as it became clear Tehran was trying to leverage the capture as a chip to negotiate with foreign nations.

Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., said March 6 that the Advantage Sweet had been “seized under false pretenses” and that the company “has not had any direct communication with Iran over the seizure of the vessel.”

“Chevron has not been permitted access to the vessel and considers the cargo a total loss due to Iran’s illegal actions,” Chevron said in a statement. “We now consider the cargo the responsibility of the Iranian government.”

Ship seizures and explosions have roiled the region since 2019. The incidents began after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

The U.S. Navy also has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. Tehran denies carrying out the attacks.

— Nasser Karimi contributed to this report from Tehran, Iran.