Gaza Genocide12 August, 20263 min read
Iran-Backed Houthis Kill Four Crew and Two Rescuers in Bab El-Mandeb Attack
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Six killed: four crew members and two rescuers, in Houthi attack at Bab el-Mandeb. Pakistanis and Indonesians among the deceased in the Bab el-Mandeb attack.
Bab el-Mandeb strikes
Four crew members were killed in an attack by Iran-backed Houthis on a small cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Tuesday, Yemen’s transport ministry said, and two Yemeni rescuers from an anti-Houthi military group were also killed, Yemen’s Coast Guard said. Reuters reported the cargo ship as Tihamah, with ship-tracking data showing the vessel Tihamah near Murad, Yemen, on August 11, while UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a ship was hit by an unknown projectile in the strait.
The Jerusalem Post said three Pakistanis and an Indonesian national were killed in a Houthi missile strike on a commercial ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, citing Saudi state-owned Al Hadath. The Express Tribune said six people were killed and 10 others wounded when the Houthis attacked a commercial vessel carrying food supplies in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and it added that Yemen’s Transportation Ministry said the Yemeni-flagged vessel Tihamah was struck three times by ballistic missiles while sailing through the strategic waterway.
Claims, investigations, and voices
Yemen’s coastguard said an initial salvo targeting the ship caused a fire to break out aboard the vessel and inflicted extensive damage, and it added that a second strike targeted the vessel as rescue workers carried out a mission to evacuate the ship. France 24 quoted the coastguard statement saying, "The attack struck the site of the rescue operation and resulted in deaths and injuries among the forces participating in the response operation," while it also reported that the Yemen government’s transport ministry accused the Houthis of launching the strikes.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Houthis claimed they attacked a Saudi ship carrying military equipment in Bab el-Mandeb, and it said UKMTO stated that authorities are investigating the incident. In parallel, The Times of Israel reported that Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, vowed Tuesday not to reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the US gives in to all of its demands, including ending the war in Gaza and Lebanon, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and meeting the rest of Iran’s conditions.
Shipping disruption and next risks
Reuters said shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and Red Sea has fallen by more than 50% since an earlier wave of Houthi attacks on shipping from 2023 to 2025, and it added that traffic has fallen further since the Houthis announced their blockade last month, with an average of 32 ships per day passing through the strait last week down from an average of 50 before the blockade. The Express Tribune similarly reported that the Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea on July 20 in response to what they described as a Saudi siege, while Riyadh denies that Yemen is under siege.
The Times of Israel said Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg News in an interview Tuesday that the United States and Iran are close to "some sort of an arrangement," and it also reported that Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said talks between Oman and Iran on the future of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are now in an advanced stage. Reuters also reported a separate missile strike off Pakistan on the Panama-flagged container ship Vela Nova, and it said the Wall Street Journal reported the vessel was attacked by a U.S. helicopter that fired a Hellfire missile at the ship’s rudder after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade of Iran-linked shipping in the region.