2 Attacks Launched by Houthis in Yemen Strike Container Ships in Vital Red Sea Corridor

A Houthi militant walks through the beach with the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the background, seized by the Houthis offshore of the Al-Salif port on the Red Sea in the province of Hodeidah, Yemen, 05 December 2023. (EPA)
A Houthi militant walks through the beach with the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the background, seized by the Houthis offshore of the Al-Salif port on the Red Sea in the province of Hodeidah, Yemen, 05 December 2023. (EPA)
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2 Attacks Launched by Houthis in Yemen Strike Container Ships in Vital Red Sea Corridor

A Houthi militant walks through the beach with the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the background, seized by the Houthis offshore of the Al-Salif port on the Red Sea in the province of Hodeidah, Yemen, 05 December 2023. (EPA)
A Houthi militant walks through the beach with the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the background, seized by the Houthis offshore of the Al-Salif port on the Red Sea in the province of Hodeidah, Yemen, 05 December 2023. (EPA)

A ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said.

The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign by the Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.

The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country's war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the militias’ assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the (Red Sea) until they bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need,” the Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said in a statement claiming responsibility for Friday's attacks.

The recent attacks led Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, to announce Friday that it’s told all of its vessels planning to pass through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to “pause their journey until further notice.” German-based shipper Hapag-Lloyd that was operating the Al Jasrah also said it was pausing all its container ship traffic through the Red Sea until Monday.

Meanwhile, hijackers, likely from Somalia, separately seized a Bulgarian ship in the Arabian Sea.

A US defense official and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said the MSC Palatium III, a Liberian-flagged container ship, caught fire after the strike. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone on board the vessel had been hurt.

Two missiles were fired in the attack, likely trying to hit the Al Jasrah, the US official said. One went wide and splashed down in the water, the other slammed into the Palatium, the official said.

The Palatium turned around after the attack and was now trying to head south, tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed.

The Switzerland-based MSC, or Mediterranean Shipping Co., earlier had another vessel, the MSC Alanya, warned by the Houthis around the Bab al-Mandeb, Ambrey said. “The parent company had cooperated with Israel, and this was likely the reason why she was threatened.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. MSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the earlier Al Jasrah attack, it remained unclear if it was a missile or drone that hit the vessel, the official said. Ambrey and the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors Mideast shipping lanes, also confirmed that attack.

“The projectile reportedly hit the port side of the vessel and one container fell overboard due to the impact,” Ambrey said. “The projectile caused a ‘fire on deck’ which was broadcast via” radio.

Shipper Hapag-Lloyd said no crew member had been hurt in the attack. It later announced that it was also pausing its ships through the Red Sea until Monday and “will decide for the period thereafter.”

Ambrey noted that Hapag-Lloyd “is known to have offices in the Israeli ports of Ashdod, Haifa and Tel Aviv.”

In his statement, military spokesman Saree claimed the Houthis targeted the Palatium III and the Alanya — not the Al Jasrah. It wasn't immediately clear why he erroneously identified the second ship.

The attacks Friday further escalate a campaign by the Houthi rebels, who have claimed responsibility for a series of missile assaults in recent days that just missed shipping in the Red Sea and its strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

On Thursday, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile that missed a container ship traveling through the strait.

The day before that, two missiles fired from Houthi-held territory missed a commercial tanker loaded with Indian-manufactured jet fuel near Bab al-Mandeb. Also near the strait, a missile fired by Houthis on Monday night slammed into a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea.

Global shipping has increasingly been targeted as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even during a brief pause in fighting during which Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The collapse of the truce has raised the risk of more sea attacks.

The Bab ea-Mandeb Strait is only 29 kilometers (18 miles) wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated $1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.

In November, Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. The militias still hold the vessel near the port city of Hodeidah. Separately, a container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean.

Also Thursday, unknown attackers boarded the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Ruen, managed by Navigation Maritime Bulgare, in the Arabian Sea off the Yemeni island of Socotra, Ambrey and the UKMTO said. Bulgarian authorities said the ship’s 18-member crew hailed from Angola, Bulgaria and Myanmar.

“The necessary steps have been taken to pass the information on to all foreign partners and institutions that we will count on to provide assistance,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Maria Gabriel told reporters Friday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. However, suspicion immediately fell on pirates from Somalia.  

Somali piracy had dropped in recent years, but there has been growing concern it could resume amid the wider chaos of the Houthi attacks and the political uncertainty gripping the east African nation.

On Friday, the UKMTO issued a warning to shippers saying the security manager for the Ruen “believes the crew no longer has control of the vessel” and that it is heading toward Somalia.  

The European Union’s anti-piracy force in the region said the Spanish frigate Victoria was on its way to intercept the “alleged pirate-hijacked vessel.”



UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

UN officials on Monday asked for $6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world's worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war.

The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40% from last year's for Sudan at a time when aid budgets around the world are under strain, partly due to a pause in funding announced by US President Donald Trump last month that has affected life-saving programs across the globe.

The UN says the funds are necessary because the impact of the 22-month war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - that has already displaced a fifth of its population and stoked severe hunger among around half its population - looks set to worsen.

World Food Program chief Cindy McCain, speaking via video to a room full of diplomats in Geneva, said: "Sudan is now the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."

She did not provide figures, but Sudan's total population currently stands at about 48 million people. Among previous world famines, the Bengal Famine of 1943 claimed between 2 million and 3 million lives, according to several estimates, while millions are believed to have died in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61.

Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including displacement camps in Darfur, a UN statement said, and this was set to worsen with continued fighting and the collapse of basic services.

"This is a humanitarian crisis that is truly unprecedented in its scale and its gravity and it demands a response unprecedented in scale and intent," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said.

One of the famine-stricken camps was attacked by the RSF last week as the group tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold.

While some aid agencies say they have received waivers from Washington to provide aid in Sudan, uncertainty remains on the extent of coverage for providing famine relief.

The UN plan aims to reach nearly 21 million people within the country, making it the most ambitious humanitarian response so far for 2025, and requires $4.2 billion - the rest being for those displaced by the conflict.