Yemen Houthi rebel attack targets ship as US aircraft carrier heads home

An attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a commercial ship travelling through the Gulf of Aden but apparently caused no damage, authorities said Saturday, in the latest strike on the shipping lane by the group.

The Houthi attack comes after the sinking this week of the ship Tutor, which marked what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign of strikes on ships in the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, US officials reportedly ordered the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, the aircraft carrier leading America's response to the Houthi attacks, to return home after a twice-extended tour.

The captain of the ship targeted late Friday saw explosions in the vicinity of the vessel, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. A later briefing by the US-overseen Joint Maritime Information Centre said the vessel initially reported two explosions off its port side and a third one later.

The vessel was not hit and sustained no damage, the centre said. The vessel and crew are reported to be safe and are proceeding to their next port of call.

The Houthis, who have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, claimed the attack Saturday night. Brig Gen Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, identified the vessel targeted as the bulk carrier Transworld Navigator.

The Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have seized one vessel and sunk two since November. A US-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

In March, the Belize-flagged Rubymar carrying fertiliser became the first to sink in the Red Sea after taking on water for days following a rebel attack.

The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war.

Meanwhile, the US Naval Institute's news service reported, citing an anonymous official, that the Eisenhower would be returning home to Norfolk, Virginia, after an over eight-month deployment in combat that the Navy says is its most intense since World War II. The report said an aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific would be taking the Eisenhower's place.

The closest American aircraft carrier known to be operating in Asia is the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Roosevelt anchored Saturday in Busan, South Korea, amid Seoul's ongoing tensions with North Korea.

The Eisenhower had repeatedly been targeted by false attack claims by the Houthis during its time in the Red Sea. Saree on Saturday night claimed another attack on the carrier but again provided no evidence to support it as the carrier was reportedly already scheduled to leave the region.