The oil tanker Strinda was hit by a cruise missile fired from an area of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, and no casualties were reported, the US military’s Middle East Command (CENTCOM) said.
According to UKMTO, the British maritime security agency, the incident occurred in the Yemeni city of Moga, in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb.
A fire broke out on board and the US destroyer USS Mason came to the ship’s aid, Centcom reported.
Ahead of the news, a Houthi military spokesman said on social networking site X (formerly Twitter) that a major announcement would be made “in the next few hours”.
On Saturday, Houthi rebels threatened to attack any ship bound for Israel in the Red Sea unless they received urgent aid for the people of the Gaza Strip.
They warned in a statement that all ships connected to Israel or carrying goods would not be welcome in the Red Sea, a strategic area between northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
In the next few hours, the French warship Languedoc, stationed in the Red Sea on a maritime defense mission, shot down two drones that “went directly” for the ship, the general staff said.
A French warship fired anti-aircraft missiles and shot down the drones, a military source said. It is a first for the French Navy to fire surface-to-air missiles for self-defense.
Following the incident in the Red Sea, the French Foreign Ministry called for the “avoidance of any regional conflict”.
It is the first time a French warship has been targeted by the Houthis since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, sparked by an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil.
Hamas, the so-called “axis of resistance” against Israel, along with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthis, hailed the Yemeni rebels’ “bold and courageous” decision.