Four more crew members of a cargo ship sunk earlier this week by Yemen’s Houthi militia were rescued in the Red Sea overnight on Wednesday, the European Union’s maritime security mission said, as a Houthi leader vowed to keep up the group’s campaign against shipping in support of the Palestinian cause.
Three Filipino crew members and a Greek security guard from the ship, the Eternity C, were “recovered from the sea” on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the European mission, Operation Aspides, announced on X, bringing the total number rescued so far to 10. About a dozen remain missing.
The Eternity C is the second vessel the Houthis have sunk this week, a sharp escalation in their 20-month campaign against ships in the waters off Yemen. On Sunday, the Houthis had attacked another cargo vessel, the Magic Seas, forcing its crew to abandon ship.
The attacks, which the group says are in solidarity with Palestinians living through Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, ended months of relative calm in the Red Sea. They have also cast doubt on a truce President Trump announced in May, which he said would restore freedom of navigation along the critical shipping route that includes the Suez Canal.
Liberian officials said at least two people were killed when the Eternity C, a Liberian-flagged vessel, was attacked on Monday by several small boats. The Houthi militants released a highly edited video overlaid with dramatic music on Wednesday showing the ship sinking into the sea, though it was unclear precisely when it went down.
The video showed how the Houthis had struck the ship with an unmanned boat and six cruise and ballistic missiles before it sank. The group also claimed to have rescued “a number of the ship’s crew” and transferred them to “a safe location.”
The U.S. Mission to Yemen accused the Houthis of kidnapping the surviving crew members and has called for their release, according to a statement posted on X.
In a recorded speech aired on Thursday, the Houthi militia leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said that his group would continue try to to stop ships it believes are linked with Israel from crossing the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.
“What happened is a clear lesson to the companies dealing with the Israeli enemy,” Mr. al-Houthi said. “The Israeli aggression against our country, along with American support and the accompanying rhetoric from some Arab countries, will not change our firm position.”
Cosmoship, the vessel’s Greek-based owner, did not immediately respond to questions from a reporter on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Yahya al-Sarea, a spokesman for the Houthis, said that the group had attacked the vessel because it was bound for an Israeli port. The New York Times could not independently verify the ship’s destination.
Mr. al-Sarea vowed on Thursday that the Houthis would expand their aerial attacks on Israel while “maintaining the ongoing naval blockade.” He said the group had targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport with a ballistic missile, though the Israeli military said the missile had been intercepted.
“These operations will persist until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted,” he said.
Israel conducted a wave of strikes on Yemen earlier this week, the Israeli military said in a post on social media, adding it had attacked what it said were Houthi targets in several ports.
The Houthis, an Iranian-backed group that controls much of northern Yemen, began targeting vessels in the Red Sea after the Israel-Hamas war erupted in 2023. They say the campaign aims to pressure Israel to halt its assault on Gaza and allow the flow of humanitarian aid to some two million Palestinians facing severe hunger.
In January, after a temporary cease-fire was reached in Gaza, the group said it would scale back its attacks to focus only on ships it viewed as directly linked to Israel. The cease-fire has since ended, and Israel has resumed its offensive.
Despite the recent escalation, shipping activity has continued in the Red Sea, especially by Greek companies. S&P Global Commodity Insights, a research firm, said in a report that Greek operators were still sending tankers carrying Indian products through the Red Sea as of July 9. Forty ships passed through the strait on July 8, compared with 38 the day before. The daily average in June was 39.
Vivian Nereim contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Shuaib Almosawa from Sana, Yemen.
Ismaeel Naar is an international reporter for The Times, covering the Gulf states. He is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The post Four More Rescued in Red Sea, as Houthis Vow to Keep Up Attacks appeared first on New York Times.
