Two sailors killed in Houthi missile attack on merchant ship in Gulf of Aden

Sanaa [Yemen]: Two sailors lost their lives in a Houthi missile strike on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday (local time), Al Jazeera reported, citing UK and US officials.

These are notably, the first casualties since the Iran-aligned Yemeni group began attacks against shipping in one of the world's busiest sea lanes over Israel's war on Gaza.

Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, that set the Greek-owned, Barbados-flagged ship True Confidence on fire on Wednesday, some 50 nautical miles (93 km) off the coast of Yemen's port of Aden.

In a statement on X, the US Central Command wrote, "At approximately 11:30 a.m. (Sanaa time) Mar. 6, an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) was launched from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen toward M/V True Confidence, a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier, while transiting the Gulf of Aden. The missile struck the vessel, and the multinational crew reports three fatalities, at least four injuries, of which three are in critical condition, and significant damage to the ship."

"The crew abandoned the ship and coalition warships responded and are assessing the situation," it said.

According to CENTCOM, this was the fifth ASBM fired by Houthis in the last two days.
Meanwhile, in a statement on X directly responding to the Houthi claim, the United Kingdom's embassy wrote, "At least 2 innocent sailors have died. This was the sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping. They must stop," according to Al Jazeera.

"Our deepest condolences are with the families of those that have died and those that were wounded."

The strikes come amid heightened tensions in the region, where Houthi fighters have carried out attacks on commercial and military shipping since November.

The Houthis initially said that they would target Israel-linked ships in a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, but later expanded their targets to include vessels linked to the United Kingdom and the US.

Last week, US Central Command has said that US aircraft and a coalition warship shot down five Iranian-backed Houthi one-way attack (OWA) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the Red Sea on Tuesday between 9:50 pm (Sanaa time) to 10:55 pm (Sanaa time).

Last month, US forces and the United Kingdom Armed Forces, with the support of several other countries, conducted strikes against 18 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen.
The joint strikes, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, were conducted on February 25.

Faced with mounting Red Sea insecurity, major shipping lines have largely abandoned the critical trade route for longer routes around Africa. This has increased costs, feeding worries about global inflation while sapping Egypt of crucial foreign revenue from shippers using the Suez Canal to or from the Red Sea, as reported by Al Jazeera.