Cargo Ship Comes Under Fire in the Red Sea as Yemen Sees 'Deadliest Houthi Attack in Years'

A cargo ship came under attack Sunday in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, the British military said, in an incident that raised fresh fears the region's most important shipping lane could once again become a war zone. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported that the bulk carrier was assaulted by "unknown armed assailants" roughly 30 nautical miles southwest of the port city of Hodeidah.

According to the maritime agency, a skiff approached the vessel and opened fire, prompting armed security guards aboard the carrier to return fire. The small boat then retreated toward a larger mother ship about two nautical miles away, with its automatic identification system switched off to avoid tracking. The ship and its crew were reported safe, and authorities said they were investigating. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, and a Houthi spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The maritime incident came amid a sharp escalation on land. Yemeni government-aligned forces said 16 of their troops were killed and 22 wounded in fighting south of Hodeidah that raged from late Friday into Saturday morning. One officer described it as the "deadliest Houthi attack in years," underscoring how the country's long-frozen civil war has begun to thaw into open combat despite a United Nations-brokered truce that has largely held since 2022.

The timing is significant. The Iranian-backed Houthis halted their campaign against international shipping and against Israel after a Gaza peace plan took effect on October 10, 2025. At the height of that campaign, the rebels sank vessels, killed crew members and forced much of the world's commercial fleet to reroute thousands of miles around the southern tip of Africa rather than transit the Suez Canal — driving up shipping costs and insurance premiums worldwide. In recent weeks, the Houthis have again threatened to resume attacks.

The Houthis have controlled Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's populous north since seizing power in 2015, touching off a war that drew in a Saudi-led coalition and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Sunday's attack, coming alongside the deadliest ground fighting in years, will be watched closely by shipping companies, Western navies and Gulf governments for any sign that the fragile calm over the Red Sea is breaking down. For now, officials are urging vessels transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to exercise extreme caution.

The United States and its allies previously stood up a multinational naval mission, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to shield commercial traffic during the height of the earlier Houthi campaign, and Western warships shot down scores of drones and missiles aimed at shipping. Major carriers including Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd suspended Red Sea transits for months, rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope and adding roughly ten days and millions of dollars in fuel to each voyage. A renewed campaign would once again ripple far beyond Yemen's shores, driving up freight rates and insurance costs across the global economy — a prospect that has shippers and Gulf governments alike on edge.