Houthis attack Karachi-bound ship in Red Sea

Pakistan-bound container ship from Saudi Arabia came under attack in the Red Sea, with Yemen’s Houthi militia claiming responsibility for targeting the vessel.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has confirmed that one of its container ships was attacked on Tuesday while transiting the southern Red Sea, according to TradeWinds.

The Liberia-flagged ship was en route from King Abdullah Port, Saudi Arabia to Karachi, Pakistan.

“Currently, all crew are safe with no reported injuries and a thorough assessment of the vessel is being conducted”, the shipping company said in a statement.

It added that the company’s priority “remains protecting the lives and safety of our seafarers, and until their safety can be ensured, MSC will continue to reroute vessels booked for Suez transit via the Cape of Good Hope”.

MSC said the ship notified a nearby coalition task force warship of the attack and engaged in ‘evasive manoeuvres’.

In a statement, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said: “The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against the commercial ship, ‘MSC United’ with appropriate naval missiles.”

“The targeting operation of the ship came after the crew refused, for the third time, calls from the naval forces, as well as repeated fiery warning messages”, the Houthi statement added.

The development came as US military forces shot down more than a dozen attack drones and several missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthi rebels at shipping in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

"There was no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries," the Pentagon´s Central Command said in a social media post, describing a barrage of 12 drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles and two land-attack missiles over a period of 10 hours.

Earlier, Huthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile strike on a vessel in the Red Sea and a drone attack toward Israel in solidarity with Gaza.

In a statement, the rebels said they "carried out a targeting operation against a commercial ship" they identified as MSC UNITED, and launched a number of "drones against military targets" in southern Israel.

The attacks are the latest in a flurry of drone and missile strikes launched by the rebels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.

The Houthis say they are targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels to push for a stop to the offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas fighters.

— With additional input from AFP