DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)— A ship traveling through the Red Sea on Thursday reported being hit in an attack likely carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a private security firm said, the latest in the campaign targeting shipping over the Israel-Hamas war.
The ship issued a radio call off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, saying it had been struck, the private security firm Ambrey said. A warship in the area was responding to the attack, Ambrey added.
It wasn’t clear if anyone was hurt or if the ship was damaged in the assault on the vessel. Neither the British nor U.S. militaries immediately reported the attack.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack. However, it can take hours or even days for them to acknowledge their assaults.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council is again demanding that Yemen’s Houthi rebels halt all attacks on ships in the region and is calling for the conflicts disrupting maritime security to be addressed — without naming the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.
The resolution, which also extends the requirement that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres report monthly on Houthi attacks, was approved Thursday by a vote of 12-0 with Russia, China and Algeria abstaining.
It condemns the Houthis’ ongoing attacks, which the rebels say are aimed at pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza, and emphasizes the need to address its root causes – “including the conflicts contributing to regional tensions and the disruption to maritime security in order to ensure a prompt, efficient and effective response.”
The Iranian-backed Houthis have targeted more than 60 vessels mainly in the Red Sea by firing missiles and drones. Their campaign has killed four sailors, seized one vessel and sank two since November.
A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes on May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.
The U.N. resolution “urges caution and restraint to avoid further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and the broader region.” It also encourages all parties to pursue diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.
The resolution is a follow-up to one adopted Jan. 10 that condemned and demanded an immediate halt to Houthi attacks. The earlier resolution's requirement for the secretary-general to report monthly to the council on the attacks expires on July 1.
Speaking on behalf of the United States and Japan who sponsored Wednesday’s resolution, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told reporters after the vote that the measure underscores “the importance of the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms of vessels of all states in the Red Sea” and demands the Houthis immediately halt their attacks.
“These attacks threaten international peace and security with negative implications for global commerce and flows of humanitarian assistance,” he said.
Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said Moscow supports the safety of navigation in the waters adjacent to Yemen including the Red Sea, but she accused the West of using the January resolution to justify its attacks on the Houthis and said the new resolution included similar provisions.
She stressed that the January resolution “cannot legitimize either the aggressive actions of the U.S. so-called coalition and that of their satellites in the Red Sea, or their missile strikes and bombardments targeting the territories of sovereign countries.”
“We urge all participants in the coalition to immediately halt illegal attacks and to transition to political and diplomatic means to reduce tensions in the waters adjacent to Yemen,” Evstigneeva said.