Houthi Missile Strike Kills Six on Yemeni Vessel

Three ballistic missiles. Six dead. A rescue operation interrupted by a second strike.

Crew members who survived a Houthi attack on a Yemeni commercial vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait this week have described a scene of cascading catastrophe — one in which rescue efforts from the initial missile strike were already underway when a second projectile hit the ship, compounding casualties and overwhelming those attempting to help the wounded. The account, gathered by the Associated Press from survivors recovering at a hospital in the port city of Mokha, adds critical detail to what Yemeni authorities have confirmed as the Houthis’ first deadly attack of the year on a vessel navigating the strait.

What Happened Aboard the Ship

The vessel was approaching port before dawn on Tuesday when it was struck in rapid succession by three ballistic missiles fired by the Iran-backed Houthi movement. According to Yemeni authorities, six people were killed and at least nine others injured. Among the dead were two members of Yemen’s government-allied National Resistance Forces and three Pakistani crew members. One Indonesian crew member also perished in the attack.

The testimony of the survivors interviewed at Mokha’s hospital is consistent in its central detail: the second missile struck while crew members were still responding to the first, turning a rescue operation into a secondary disaster. Zaheer Ahmed, a Pakistani crew member injured in both legs, described the scene in terms that resist clinical summarisation. “People were burning,” he said. “It was a strange scene of doomsday.” He added that he had called out for help and was assisted by a Yemeni soldier who came to his aid.

Muhammad Alteno, an Indonesian crew member, told AP journalists that he had attempted to reach a fellow Indonesian — a friend and roommate — who was trapped in their shared cabin after the first missile struck. The attempt failed. “The flames were so intense that I couldn’t breathe,” Alteno said. “I managed to escape with some of the other crew members.” His friend did not survive.

Strategic Context: The Bab el-Mandeb and the Houthi Blockade

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, carries approximately twelve percent of global trade. Its disruption carries consequences that extend well beyond the immediate theatre of conflict. The Houthis announced a blockade several weeks ago targeting Saudi-linked vessels transiting the strait, framing the measure as retaliation for a prolonged Saudi siege on Yemen and for recent strikes on the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa.

The group had stated publicly that it would restrict only vessels with connections to Saudi Arabia or those calling at Saudi Red Sea ports — a framing that, if accurate, would not have covered the vessel attacked this week. Yemeni authorities have not publicly clarified the ship’s ownership or port affiliation, and the precise basis for the Houthis’ targeting decision remains unconfirmed.

This is not the Houthis’ first campaign of maritime interdiction. During the war in Gaza, the group attacked more than one hundred vessels under a declared blockade before a sustained U.S. and Israeli air campaign curtailed the attacks in early 2025. The current escalation appears to follow a similar operational logic, though it unfolds in a changed regional context.

Escalation and the Risk of Renewed Civil War

The maritime attack is part of a broader intensification of Houthi operations that Yemeni military officials say has included strikes on government forces and civilians in the government-held city of Mokha, as well as attacks on troops and oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The pattern is consistent with a deliberate effort to expand the conflict’s geographic and political scope at a moment when the 2022 United Nations-brokered truce remains formally intact but practically fragile.

The risk is not abstract. A resumption of full-scale civil war — one that draws in Saudi Arabia more directly and intersects with the ongoing regional fallout from the Gaza conflict — would have consequences for millions of Yemenis already living through one of the world’s most acute humanitarian crises. The attack on the commercial vessel, and the deaths of crew members who had no apparent combatant role, illustrates the human cost of that trajectory.

The Houthi movement has not, as of this writing, publicly commented on the specific targeting of this vessel. The absence of an explanation is itself a form of accountability gap — one that the international community has, to date, done little to close.