DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) 鈥 An attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a commercial ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden but apparently caused no damage, authorities said Saturday, in the latest strike on the shipping lane by the group.
The Houthi attack comes after , which marked what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign of strikes on ships in the vital maritime corridor over the .
Meanwhile, the U.S. military ordered , the aircraft carrier leading America's response to the Houthi attacks, to return home after a twice-extended tour.
The captain of the ship targeted late Friday saw 鈥渆xplosions in the vicinity of the vessel,鈥 the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. A later briefing by the U.S.-overseen Joint Maritime Information Center said the vessel initially reported two explosions off its port side and a third one later.
鈥淭he vessel was not hit and sustained no damage,鈥 the center said. 鈥淭he vessel and crew are reported to be safe and are proceeding to their next port of call.鈥
The Houthis, who have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, claimed the attack Saturday night. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, identified the vessel targeted as the bulk carrier Transworld Navigator.
The targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have seized one vessel and sunk two since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.
In March, after taking on water for days following a rebel attack.
The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war.
The , based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after in combat that the Navy says is . The San Diego-based will take the Eisenhower's place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, according to the Pentagon's press secretary, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.
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The Eisenhower had already reached the Mediterranean Sea, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movements. Flight-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed a Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopter associated with the Eisenhower flying above the Mediterranean just off the coast of Port Said, Egypt, on Saturday night.
The Eisenhower had repeatedly been targeted by false attack claims by the Houthis during its time in the Red Sea. Saree on Saturday night claimed another attack on the carrier 鈥 but again provided no evidence to support it as the ship already had left the area.
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Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
