A suspected missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels set a ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday as Israel intercepted what appeared to be another Houthi attack near the port city of Eilat, authorities said. The attack Thursday in the Gulf of Aden saw two missiles fired, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the unnamed ship was ablaze, without elaborating. Ship-tracking data analyzed by the AP identified the vessel ablaze as a Palau-flagged cargo ship named Islander.
It had been coming from Thailand bound for Egypt and previously sent out messages saying "SYRIAN CREW ON BOARD" to potentially avoid being targeted by the Houthis. The missile attack led "to a fire onboard and coalition military assets were responding to the incident," the private security firm Ambrey said. Meanwhile, sirens sounded early Thursday over Eilat, followed by videos posted online of what appeared to be an interception in the sky overhead. The Israeli military later said the interception was carried out by its Arrow missile defense system. Israel did not identify what the fire was, nor where it came from. However, the Arrow system intercepts long-range ballistic missiles with a warhead designed to destroy targets while they are in space.
The Houthis did not immediately claim either attack. They typically acknowledge assaults they conduct hours afterward. Despite a month of US-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. This week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. On Wednesday, ships in the Red Sea off the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida in Yemen reported seeing an explosion, though all vessels in the area were said to be safe, the UKMTO said. The US military's Central Command acknowledged shooting down a Houthi bomb-carrying drone during that time.
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