Multiple small vessels attacked a ship in the Red Sea near Yemen’s Al Hudaydah port, causing a fire on board and prompting the crew to abandon ship before the Israel army carried out airstrikes on Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen. 

The vessels opened fire and launched self-propelled grenades at the ship, UK Maritime Trade Operations said July 6 in a series of social posts citing a company security officer, without identifying the vessel. A passing merchant vessel rescued all crew members, while the ship remains abandoned. 

UKMTO said earlier that an armed security team was returning fire in the attack some 51 nautical miles southwest of Al Hudaydah, a stronghold of the Iran-backed Houthi militia that has been targeting ships in the strategic waterway for over a year. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Later on July 6, the Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes on Al Hudaydah, Ras Issa and Al-Salif ports on the Red Sea in addition to a power plant in Al Hudaydah. The IDF said the strikes were in response to the repeated attacks by the Houthis against Israel, with the group regularly firing missiles at the Jewish state.

“The Houthi terrorist regime exploits the maritime domain to project force and conduct terrorist activity against passing vessels and global maritime commerce. The targets struck demonstrate the regime’s systematic use of civilian infrastructure for terrorist purposes,” the IDF said on Telegram.

The Houthis began attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea after Israel launched a campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, disrupting global shipping routes. Those attacks have largely dried up since late 2024 as shippers send vessels along other routes.

After an intense bombing campaign by the U.S. and Israel earlier this year, the Yemen-based militia reached a ceasefire with Washington. But the group threatened to return to targeting U.S.-associated vessels in the Red Sea following the U.S. decision last month to join an offensive by Israel on Iran’s nuclear sites.

The Houthi assaults on ships in the Red Sea caused the biggest disruption to global trade since the COVID-19 pandemic, subduing activity in one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors.