Suspected missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels set ship ablaze [Video]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates –

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched attacks Thursday on both Israel and a ship travelling through the Gulf of Aden, setting the vessel ablaze and again demonstrating their ability to launch assaults despite facing U.S.-led airstrikes targeting their forces.

The rebels’ supreme leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, announced an “the escalation in sea operations” conducted by his forces as part of what they describe a pressure campaign to end Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis’ targets have grown more random since their attacks began in November, endangering a vital waterway for cargo and energy shipments travelling from Asia and the Middle East onward to Europe.

The attack Thursday in the Gulf of Aden saw two missiles fired at a Palau-flagged cargo ship named Islander, the U.S. military’s Central Command said. A European naval force in the region described the attack as sparking a fire and wounding one sailor …