Six people were killed and ten others injured on Tuesday when Houthi forces struck the cargo ship Tihamah with three ballistic missiles south of Mocha in the Red Sea, in what appears to be the first deadly Houthi attack on commercial shipping since the US-Israel war on Iran began in February.
Four crew members died in the initial missile strike, including three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian. Two more people were killed in a second follow-up strike carried out as rescuers attempted to evacuate survivors from the stricken vessel, bringing the total death toll to six.
The Houthis claimed they targeted a ship carrying Saudi military equipment. Yemen’s internationally recognised government disputed this characterisation, stating the vessel was carrying food supplies and condemning the attack as a dangerous escalation. Ownership of the ship remains contested, with reports variously identifying the Tihamah as Tanzanian-flagged, Egyptian-operated, or Saudi-affiliated.
The attack comes weeks after the Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi ports on July 20, a move that signalled a significant escalation of the group’s maritime campaign at a time of acute regional tension. The resumption of deadly strikes on Red Sea shipping adds a new and volatile dimension to an already highly unstable security environment in the region, where the ongoing US-Iran conflict and its cascading consequences continue to reshape the strategic landscape.
The deaths of three Pakistani crew members are expected to draw a sharp response from Islamabad, which has previously warned against threats to Pakistani maritime interests in the region.
