After a relatively calm first half of the year in the Red Sea despite high tensions throughout the Middle East, the Houthis attacked two commercial vessels in a 24-hour span across Sunday and Monday.
The two incidents are the first attacks across both the Red Sea and the neighboring Gulf of Aden in 2025, and raise fears of a renewed campaign from the Yemeni militant group two months after they agreed to a ceasefire in the region.
On Sunday, the Houthis conducted multiple attacks on the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas, roughly 50 nautical miles (57.5 miles) off the cost of Yemen’s Port of Hodeidah after ships in the vessel’s ownership structure called at Israeli ports, the group confirmed.
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Multiple small vessels engaged the ship with small arms and self-propelled grenades, resulting in a fire, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
The damage ended up sinking the ship, marking the third time the Yemeni group sunk a vessel in the area.
According to Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Yahya Saree, the operation followed multiple warnings, which he claims the crew rejected.
“Our operations continue in targeting the depths of the Israeli entity in occupied Palestine, as well as preventing Israeli maritime navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas…until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege on it is lifted,” Saree said.
Later that day, the Israeli air force hit Houthi targets across Yemen.
A second Liberian-flagged cargo ship was targeted Monday, with two security guards on board reportedly hurt and two others missing. Authorities are investigating the incident.
According to a Monday update from maritime security firm Ambrey, Israel-affiliated vessels sailing through the Red Sea remain at high risk.
The company assessed that it was a realistic possibility that U.S., U.K., and allied-affiliated vessels may face heightened risk during transit if their states participate in military action against the Houthis or Iran.
Other merchant shipping is assessed to be at a low risk.
According to a post on X by Windward AI CEO Ami Daniel, the extent could range further depending on the Houthi definition of companies that “violate” the militant group’s “ban” on entry to Israeli ports.
Citing data from his predictive maritime intelligence company, Daniel noted that 1,113 vessels called at an Israeli port over the past six months. But those companies also manage a combined more than 15,000 other global commercial vessels.
“In other words, about one of six vessels in the world fleet is directly threatened by the Houthis as of today,” Daniel estimated.
MSC ship reportedly sails through Red Sea after suspected GPS jamming
The Houthi attacks came just days after the largest container shipping company in the world, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), saw its first ship pass through the region in 18 months.
The 6,700 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) MSC Antonia, which had run aground off the shores of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea in May, reportedly transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait late last month.
A report from Lloyd’s List indicated there was a gap in the ship’s automatic identification system (AIS) broadcast between June 20 and June 21, when the vessel was initially berthed in Jeddah, and again from June 21 through June 26, when the ship appeared in the Indian Ocean sailing east.
The AIS gap suggested possible electronic interference that jammed its GPS signals, which had been a concern for ships in the wider Arabian Peninsula in the wake of the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict.
The report said this is the first known transit of an MSC-operated vessel since December 2023.
As of Monday, the MSC Antonia is docked at the Vung Tau Port in Vietnam.
MSC’s decision follows that of fellow ocean carrier CMA CGM, which has periodically sailed vessels through the Red Sea throughout the crisis. While most of CMA CGM’s ships still avoid the waterway, with the company insisting that it does not plan to resume transits in that direction for the short term, it has experimented with using multiple services on the route.
Major container shipping firms like Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express, Evergreen and Yang Ming have all kept their distance from the Red Sea, with the liners citing a lack of guaranteed safety as the reason.
