Vessel Reports Explosion in the Water off Saudi Red Sea Coast

 

A merchant vessel may have narrowly avoided an attack off the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, an area that has previously had comparatively few security issues for passing traffic. The reported incident follows just days after an Israeli strike eliminated top Houthi leaders.

At about 1730 hours UTC on Sunday, the master of an unnamed vessel informed UKMTO that they had seen a splash in the water near the ship, followed by a loud bang. The crew is safe, and no damage was reported. The vessel remains under way. Investigations are in process and UKMTO has asked for passing traffic to report any suspicious activity. 

A Houthi spokesman later identified the vessel in question as the tanker Scarlet Ray, and said that it had been "hit" by a ballistic missile - contrary to the ship's own reports. AIS data suggests that Scarlet Ray had been loitering off Yanbu, and that her GPS signal was disrupted by spoofing in the weeks prior to the incident; the signal has not been received since midday Sunday. 

The area of the incident is more than 600 nautical miles north of the highest-risk Red Sea region, the waters just off Houthi-controlled parts of western Yemen. Waters off Yanbu are within the Saudi exclusive economic zone, and rarely see disturbances of the kind that plagued the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden last year.

Observers have been quick to note that the claimed attack followed three days after a major Israeli airstrike on Houthi leaders. The Israeli attack killed the group's prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi, and several associates, Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti told the New York Times. Others believed dead include foreign minister Jamal Amer and information minister Hashem Sharaf el-Din. The Houthis have vowed to take revenge: the group's militia council chief Mahdi al-Mashat said Sunday that "our vengeance does not sleep, and dark days await you." 

Multiple analysts have assessed that the strikes on the Houthis' political leadership - including moderates - are likely to drive the group to take more kinetic action, potentially including more actions against shipping. For more than a month, the group has focused its aim on striking Israeli territory rather than disrupting merchant traffic; after Houthi forces hit and then sank the Greek bulker Eternity C, no further reported attacks followed off the coast of Yemen for about six weeks.