Houthis reportedly kill six in first deadly attack since start of Iran war
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- Houthis struck the cargo vessel Tihamah with three ballistic missiles south of Yemen's port of Mocha, causing an onboard fire that killed four crew — three Pakistanis and one Indonesian — and injured 10 others, Yemen's transport ministry said.
- Yemen's coastguard reported a second deadly missile strike hit rescuers attempting to evacuate the burning ship, with maritime risk firm Vanguard adding that Yemeni Navy vessels deployed to assist also came under fire, wounding three.
- The Houthis claimed they targeted a ship carrying Saudi military equipment, while Yemen's internationally recognized government said the vessel was carrying food and called the strike an escalation; ship-tracking data identifies the Tihamah as Tanzanian-flagged and Egyptian-owned.
- The attack marks the first deadly Houthi strike on a vessel since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on February 28, and comes after the group announced a naval blockade of Saudi ports last month and a years-long Yemen civil war truce collapsed.
- Social media images verified by BBC Verify show the damaged Tihamah in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen's coast, with photos disseminated by Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency confirmed as new and not AI-generated.
Why it matters: The strike kills civilian foreign crew on a commercial vessel in a chokepoint where roughly a fifth of global oil and LNG transits, and represents the first Houthi fatalities at sea since the broader Iran war began February 28 — escalating the conflict's maritime dimension just weeks after a years-long Yemen truce collapsed and the group declared a naval blockade of Saudi ports.
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