Three crew members were killed on Tuesday in a suspected attack by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels on an Egyptian-owned cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The Yemeni government stated the ship was carrying food supplies to a port in the area. If confirmed, the deaths of three Pakistanis and one Indonesian crew member would mark the first deaths in a Houthi strike on shipping since the Iran war began. The Houthis have not commented on the attack.
These latest attacks follow a barrage that struck the commercial port of al-Makha, also known as Mocha, late Sunday. The strike on the government-held Red Sea coast port has escalated fears regarding threats to strategic shipping routes and a potential return to civil war. Combined with Tehran's refusal to reopen Hormuz, the renewed violence has raised regional war fears.
Additionally, a container ship was hit by a missile off the coast of Pakistan in a suspected U.S. attack. In a separate development, a Syrian court has sentenced Assad to death.