Ship Hit By Projectile Off Yemen's Hodeidah Coast, Minor Damages Reported (image@CENTCOM)

A cargo ship in the Red Sea suffered minor damage after being hit. The Barbados-flagged was hit by a projectile while sailing off the coast of Yemen’s Hodeidah, said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency, and Ambrey, the British maritime security firm.

The ship, which was located 57 nautical miles west of Hodeidah, said that a projectile was fired at its port side and a small craft was seen on its port side. The projectile passed over the deck of the ship and caused little damage on the bridge windows, said the UKMTO.

Ambrey said that the ship, which was owned by a British company incurred physical damage from an unnamed aerial vehicle (UAV) while sailing south east through the Red Sea. The British maritime security firm said that the ship managed to perform evasive manoeuvres and continued its journey. No injury was reported.

Red Sea has become dangerous for the passing of cargo ships, since Houthis started to launch attack against commercial shipping. The Yemeni group have been targeting vessels with drones and missiles since mid-November, owing their support to Palestinians. They said the attack will not be stopped until Israel ends the aggression on Palestinians, and added that only ships that have links with Israel is being targeted.

The continued targeting of the vessels has caused disruption on global trading, as the attacks forced the shipping firms to re-route from Red Sea to Cape of Good Hope of South Africa. The journey was longer and expensive.

As a response to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, US started a coalition of several countries and started to attack Houthi targets in Yemen, adding up to the fear of the escalation of Israel-Hamas war to wider Middle East region.