The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced, on Tuesday, that a Swiss ship was hit by a Houthi missile in the Gulf of Aden, and that two other attacks against the US Navy in the Red Sea were thwarted.

The command, which oversees US military activities in the Middle East, said in a statement, via the “X” platform, that the container ship (M/V MSC SKY II), a Swiss-owned ship flying the Liberian flag, was hit on Monday evening in the Gulf of... Aden, with an anti-ship ballistic missile, launched by the Houthis in Yemen, noting that the attack caused material damage but no casualties.

The American command confirmed that it was able to thwart Houthi missile attacks that were targeting American Navy ships in the Red Sea, in conjunction with targeting the Swiss container ship in the Gulf of Aden.

Centcom announced the shooting down of two anti-ship cruise missiles, which it said represented an “imminent threat” to commercial ships and US Navy ships in the region.

On Monday evening, the Houthis announced that they had targeted an Israeli ship and American warships in two separate operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said that they targeted the Israeli ship “MSC Sky” in the Gulf of Aden with a number of missiles, indicating that the hit was accurate and direct.

He indicated that the attack came hours after carrying out an operation with a number of ballistic missiles and drones on American warships in the Red Sea, stressing that his group will continue to prevent Israeli navigation until the aggression against Gaza is stopped.

Meanwhile, Ambrey Maritime Security said that it had received reports that an Israeli ship had been damaged as a result of an attack in the Gulf of Aden at the same time as it issued a distress signal.

Reuters quoted the company as saying that an Israeli container ship flying the Liberian flag was targeted eighty-eight nautical miles off the shores of the city of Aden.

It was explained that a fire broke out on board the targeted Israeli ship after it was exposed to two explosions, and there were no casualties.

In this context, a UN official said that the blockade imposed by the Houthis on Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea has a negative impact on global food trade and leads to higher prices.

Director of the Liaison Office with Russia at the Food and Agriculture Organization, Oleg Kobyakov, explained that the cost of renting a ship has almost quadrupled, while the movement of goods has decreased by thirty percent, according to what the Russian TASS agency reported.

He pointed out that the largest shipping companies in the world refused to deliver goods through the Red Sea, pointing out that the ships diverted their course to the Cape of Good Hope to travel between Asia and Europe.

Since November 19, the Houthi group has been carrying out attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, which it says are connected to Israel, or heading to or coming from it, in response to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Last February, the European Union launched Operation “Prosperity Sentinel” to protect navigation in the Red Sea.

At the beginning of this year, Washington established an international maritime coalition that it says aims to protect maritime navigation and confront Houthi threats in the Red and Arabian Seas. However, the Houthis underestimated the feasibility of that coalition, and said that it had failed.