HOUTHI attacks against vessels transiting the Red Sea have escalated in recent days, as the military group continues to use unmanned attack boats to bomb vessels.
A video released by the Houthis on July 1 this year shows an attack on Transworld Navigator, a Greek-owned bulk carrier, which suffered damage in an explosion from one of the unmanned surface vessels on June 23.
Though the crew was declared safe and the vessel was able to continue its transit, attacks from the unmanned vessels are causing chaos and renewed fear in the region.
The Houthis claim that the drone boat used in the attack on the Navigator was an advanced, new weapon, able to travel speeds of 45 nautical miles per hour.
On 30 June, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that a vessel had been approached by a dozen small boats, some uncrewed, 13 nautical miles south-west of the Yemeni coast, though no attack was registered on that occasion.
These two recent encounters have thankfully not registered any fatalities; on 12 June a seafarer was killed when unmanned surface vessels struck the coal carrier Tutor.
The escalation of assaults against merchant vessels in recent weeks is speculated to be a result of the current lack of United States firepower in the region.
On 22 June USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier which spent more than seven months combatting the Houthis, left the Red Sea to return to the US.
According to the United States Pentagon, USS Theodore Roosevelt is currently transiting from the Pacific in order to continue the US presence in the region, which has so far been effective in stemming the tide of Houthi attacks. The Roosevelt’s current arrival schedule is unknown.
On 30 June, it was confirmed that five of the 27 Filipino crew of Transworld Navigator had returned home to the Philippines. According to the Department of Migrant Workers, a department of the Philippines Government, the returned seafarers had received financial support and other assistance from the Philippines government.
