A Portuguese-flagged container ship came under attack by a drone in the far reaches of the Arabian sea, corresponding with a claim by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they assaulted the ship there.
The attack on the MSC Orion, occurring some 600 kilometres (375 miles) off the coast of Yemen, appeared to be the first confirmed deep-sea assault claimed by the Houthis since they started targeting ships in November.
It suggests the Houthis or potentially their main benefactor Iran may have the ability to strike into the distances of the Indian Ocean as the rebels previously threatened in their ongoing campaign over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack happened last Friday, as per the Joint Maritime Information Center, which operates as part of the US-led Combined Maritime Forces in the Mideast. After the attack, the crew discovered debris apparently from a drone on board, said the centre.
The ship sustained only minor damage and all crew on board are safe, the center said. Ship-tracking satellite data analyzed by the media reports put the container ship, bound for Salalah, Oman, in the area of the attack on Saturday.
The MSC Orion has been associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime, which is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. It was operating on behalf of the Mediterranean Shipping Co, a Naples, Italy-based firm. Zodiac referred questions to MSC, which did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The Joint Maritime Information Center assesses that MSC Orion was likely targeted due to its perceived Israeli affiliation, the center said in a report.
Brig Gen Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, claimed the attack on the Orion early Tuesday. He did not explain why it took the rebels days to acknowledge the attack.
The attack immediately raised questions about how the Houthis could have carried out an assault hundreds of kilometers from the shores of Yemen on a moving target. Their primary area of attack so far has been in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connect the two waterways key for international trade. Those are close to Yemen’s shoreline- unlike the site of the MSC Orion attack.
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