OFFICIALS said today that Yemen’s Houthi-led government was responsible for stricking and damaging a vessel in the Red Sea.

The attack comes as the United States has sent the USS Dwight D Eisenhower back home after an eight-month deployment that saw it lead the US response to the Yemeni assaults. 

Those attacks have seen shipping drastically drop through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Yemenis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on.

The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the port city of Hodeida, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. 

It said that the vessel sustained damage but its mariners on board “were reported safe.” It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage, but said an investigation was ongoing.

The private security firm Ambrey identified the ship involved as a Liberia-flagged container ship bound for Qingdao, China.

The Yemenis did not immediately claim the attack but have launched more than 60 attacks targeting shipping linked to Israel, the US or Britain in opposition to Israel’s assault against the Palestinians in Gaza.