DubaiThree sailors were murdered and two others were injured in an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a cargo ship flying the Liberian flag in the Red Sea, according to a European Union naval force on Tuesday. The incident underscores the threat posed by the group’s renewed campaign to target a vital maritime route for global trade.
Following the Iranian-backed Houthis’ Sunday attack on the bulk carrier Magic Seas in the Red Sea, which they claimed later sunk, comes the attack on the Greek-owned Eternity C. The attacks are the first Houthi attacks on shipping on the waterway, which had started to see an increase in ship traffic in recent weeks, since late 2024.
Since December of last year, there haven’t been any significant attacks on merchant shipping, according to Wolf-Christian Paes, a senior scholar at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “And they made a spectacular return.
The crew is still trapped on the adrift ship.
Bomb-carrying drones and personnel in small boats opened fire on the bulk carrier Monday night as it was moving north toward the Suez Canal. The onboard security officers opened fire. Those facts were reported by the private security firm Ambrey and by the EU Operation Aspides.
The EU force and Yemen’s exiled government blamed the rebels, as did the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, but the Houthis have not acknowledged responsibility for the attack and can take days to do so.
The embassy, which has been operating out of Saudi Arabia for almost ten years due to the civil war in Yemen, said the Houthis are once again demonstrating a flagrant disdain for human life and harming freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
The deliberate killing of defenseless seamen reveals the actual nature of the Houthis and will only further their isolation, it continued.
One of the injured crew members lost his leg, according to the casualty statistics provided by the EU force. The ship is currently adrift in the Red Sea, and the crew is still trapped on board.
The crew of Magic Seas left the ship.
The Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas was assaulted by the Houthis on Sunday using drones, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, and small weapons fire. The 22-member crew was forced to evacuate the ship, which was carrying steel billets and fertilizer bound for Turkey.
The Houthis published a propaganda film on Tuesday night in which their troops threatened the ship by calling out to it in English over a VHF radio. Masked Houthi militants were seen in the video later entering the deserted ship, most likely following the crew’s departure.
The shooters ran over broken glass as they assaulted the ship’s bridge. The Houthis’ motto, “God is the greatest,” “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam,” was then heard on drone footage of them. Ultimately, the ship was sunk when explosives that were probably planted on it detonated. A similar video was published by the Houthis during their August 2024 attack on the tanker Sounion.
International criticism was leveled at the Magic Seas attack.
The EU cautioned that this is the first attack of this kind against a commercial vessel in 2025, a significant escalation that puts maritime security in a crucial waterway for the region and the world at risk. The freedom of navigation as a worldwide public benefit, international trade, and regional peace and security are all directly threatened by these actions. They have the potential to worsen Yemen’s already severe humanitarian situation.
The UN urged the rebels to abide by resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council calling for an immediate end to all hostilities and denounced the Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated, “We remain extremely concerned and anxious about the escalation that we are witnessing.”
The 22 sailors on board the Magic Seas were eventually rescued by an Abu Dhabi Ports vessel, according to the United Arab Emirates. According to the Philippines, 21 Filipinos were on the Eternity C and 17 were on the Magic Seas.
Fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that might once more attract U.S. and Western forces were heightened by the two attacks and a round of Israeli airstrikes against the rebels early Monday. This was especially true after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump launched a significant airstrike campaign against the rebels.
The attacks occur during a delicate time in the Middle East, as Iran considers whether to resume nuclear program talks after U.S. airstrikes targeted its most sensitive atomic sites during the Israel-Iran war in June, and as a potential ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict looms.
As talks for a ceasefire in Gaza continue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Trump in Washington. Over their firms’ paths to Israel, the two warships were reportedly targeted by the Houthis.
According to Paes, if I had to venture a guess, it has to do with Netanyahu’s presence in Washington and the fact that Iran and its network of supporters have, of course, been suffering over the past few months.
Attacks by Houthis connected to the Israel-Hamas conflict
In what the group’s leadership has called an attempt to halt Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have begun attacking military and commercial ships in the area with missiles and drones.
The Houthis used drones and missiles to strike around 100 merchant vessels between November 2023 and January 2025, killing four seamen and sinking two. The $1 trillion worth of commodities that normally pass via the Red Sea region each year has significantly decreased as a result of their campaign.
Early in December, U.S. warships escorting commercial ships became the focus of the most recent Houthi strike. Beginning in January and lasting until March, there was a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. After that, the United States launched a massive offensive against the rebels, which came to a halt weeks later when Trump claimed the rebels had promised to cease targeting ships.
Since then, Israel has been the subject of sporadic missile attacks by the Houthis. Although it was remained below average, shipping via the Red Sea had risen in the last several weeks.
The Soufan Center research tank, based in New York, stated Tuesday that the Houthi strike “tarnishes the U.S. claims that Operation Rough Rider had brought calm to the Red Sea and paved the way for a return to prior levels of commercial traffic through the waterway.”
The U.S. appears more likely to back down, it noted, unless the most recent “evolves into a broader and sustained Houthi campaign.”
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This report was written by Edith M. Lederer of the Associated Press at the United Nations.
