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Yemen’s Houthis have mounted one of their most damaging attacks yet on a commercial vessel after the Iran-backed group struck a bulk carrier in an incident that forced its crew to abandon the ship.
The attack on the Rubymar, which was carrying cargo from the United Arab Emirates to Bulgaria, underlines the Houthis’ continuing threat to ships traversing the Red Sea despite a recent lull in successful strikes as a result of regular US and UK attacks on missile launching sites.
The strike came late on Sunday, hours after the US’s central military command (Centcom) said it had identified a submarine drone among the rebel group’s military arsenal for the first time.
The UK’s Dubai-based Maritime Trade Operations said the attack took place 35 nautical miles south of al-Mukha in Yemen. The Houthis’ official spokesperson said they attacked the ship, which they described as British, and the vessel was now at risk of sinking. They also said they shot down a US military drone.
This is the first time a crew has had to abandon a ship after an attack by the Houthis, whose weapons have mostly either missed targeted ships or inflicted only minor damage. It is also the first reported direct hit by a Houthi weapon on a ship since the group sparked a fire on January 26 on the Marlin Luanda, a fuel tanker operating on behalf of commodities trader Trafigura.
Owners of dry bulk ships, which carry non-containerised bulk commodities in large holds, have been reluctant to abandon the Red Sea route to the Suez Canal since the start of Houthi attacks in November. Data from London-based Clarksons has shown that arrivals of container ships around the mouth of the Red Sea have fallen more than 90 per cent since early December, while bulk carrier arrivals have only halved.
The Houthis say they are targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in support of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesperson, said on Monday that the Rubymar had suffered “catastrophic damages” and come to a complete halt. “As a result of the extensive damage the ship suffered, it is now at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden,” Sare’e added. “During the operation, we made sure that the ship’s crew exited safely.”
Referring to a strike from the nearby Red Sea port of Hodeidah, he added: “The Yemeni air defences were able to shoot down an American plane with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country.”
Sare’e identified the downed aircraft as an MQ9, a type of unmanned aircraft known as a Reaper drone.
UKMTO confirmed that the Rubymar’s crew had abandoned the ship but added: “Vessel at anchor and all crew are safe.”
Ambrey Intelligence, a UK-based maritime security firm, suggested mechanical problems might have forced the crew to abandon the vessel. “The vessel was drifting in a pattern consistent with engine failure [before the event] and had been temporarily detained in December 2023 for several propulsion and auxiliary machinery defects,” Ambrey said.
The Houthis’ continued determination to attack ships was underlined when the Centcom revealed it had destroyed an “unmanned underwater vessel” (UUV) during a series of strikes on Saturday that also hit an unmanned surface vessel and three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles.
“This is the first observed Houthi employment of a UUV since attacks began,” Centcom said on Sunday.
The Rubymar flies the flag of Belize. Its registered owner is a company called Golden Adventure Shipping, with an address in the UK port of Southampton. It was not clear, however, who ultimately controlled the ship. Ambrey described it as “UK registered and Lebanon operated”.
