Ship attacked in Red Sea off Yemen with gunfire, rocket-propelled grenades

A ship came under attack Sunday in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen by armed men firing guns and launching rocket-propelled grenades, a group overseen by the British military said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as tensions remain high in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war and after the Iran-Israel war and airstrikes by the United States targeting Iranian nuclear sites.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said that an armed security team on the ship had returned fire and that the “situation is ongoing.”

“Authorities are investigating,” it said.

Ambrey, a maritime security firm, issued a warning saying that a merchant ship had been “attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea.” It said it believed the attack was ongoing.

The US Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet referred questions to the military's Central Command, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees USD 1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven't attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.

Meanwhile, a wider, decadelong war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country's exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a stalemate.

Pirates from Somalia also have operated in the region, though typically they've sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews.