Houthis Continue Campaign With Another Vessel Under Attack In Red Sea

Wires reporting comments from theUK Maritme Trade Organisation (UKMTO) stating that a vessel's master has reported being attacked be a missile, with an explosion in close proximity. The attack occurred off the coast of Mokha in Yemen, in the Red Sea, north of the Mab el-Mandeb Strait.

• After something of a fallow period over the past week with regards to Houthi attacks on shipping, the last 48 hours have seen an uptick, with the Greek-owned Barbados-flagged bulk carrier "Lycavitos" targeted on 15 Feb. Houthis claimedthat the vessel was British-owned.
• The Houthis have previously claimed to be targeting ships with links to Israel, the UK or the US. However, recent attacks have hit vessels without links to any of those states, and indeed earlier in the week launched an attack on a ship bound for an Iranian port according to the US.
• The scattergun nature of the attacks raises risks for all shipping in the region, including non-container vessels that so far have largely avoided being targeted.