Crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel Sunday night as it took on water, marking the first serious assault in the vital corridor for trade after a monthslong campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels there. Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said it appeared bomb-carrying drone boats hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels’ media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault. A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in U.S. and Western forces to the area, particularly after President Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign. Shortly before midnight in Yemen, Israel’s military issued a warning for three Houthi-held ports and said airstrikes would begin shortly in Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif along with at the Ras al-Khatib power station. The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most-sensitive atomic sites amid an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.

Full report : Crew abandons cargo ship in Red Sea after drone, grenade attack.