Guards on cargo vessel fight off attack from small boat near Yemeni coast
Armed security personnel aboard a cargo vessel sailing off Yemen’s coast faced an attack from assailants in a small boat during an exchange of fire near the Bab Al Mandeb strait, in the latest maritime security incident in the area.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a security co-ordination centre run by the UK Royal Navy, said the vessel was approached in an area south-west of Balhaf, Yemen, by a small craft carrying six armed individuals.
There was an exchange of fire between the attackers and the security team on board the vessel. The assailants on the small boat subsequently broke off the approach.
No casualties or damage were reported and authorities are investigating the incident. Vessels in the area have been advised to sail with caution and report suspicious activity.
The incident occurred about 88 nautical miles, or about 163km, from Balhaf.
Far to the east, in the Gulf of Oman, UKMTO reported a separate incident. It said a tanker suffered an engine room fire about 20 nautical miles north-east of Sohar, Oman. Local authorities were assisting with the evacuation of the crew after the vessel reported one casualty, with two crew members missing. No environmental impact has been reported and the cause of the fire remains unclear.
The two incidents appear unconnected, but together they underscore the persistent operational risks facing commercial shipping in regional waters.
The approach near Bab Al Mandeb comes after Yemen’s Houthi rebels issued fresh threats to Red Sea shipping. The Iran-backed group’s military spokesman, Brig Gen Yahya Al Saree, had previously declared a “complete ban on enemy navigation” in the Red Sea, saying “enemy ships” would be treated as military targets and warning that operations would intensify in response to regional escalation.
The Houthis, who control parts of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, have spent the past two years demonstrating their ability to strike maritime targets using drones, mines, anti-ship missiles and explosive boats. The group attacked commercial vessels during the Red Sea crisis of 2023 and 2024, forcing major shipping companies to divert to alternative routes.
Bab Al Mandeb, a 29km-wide passage between Yemen on one side and Djibouti and Eritrea on the other, sits at the southern end of the Red Sea.
Roughly a tenth of global trade passes through the strait each year, including oil, liquefied natural gas and containerised cargo. The waterway is divided by Yemen’s Mayyun Island into two channels: a narrower eastern route and a wider western channel used by most large commercial vessels.
Since the Iran war erupted on February 28, violence has increasingly spilt into the region’s key waterways. Maritime security intelligence firm Dryad Global said in a report last week that attacks on commercial vessels, the discovery of naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz and a partial Iranian naval blockade had forced more than 117 vessels to reroute and prompted US and coalition naval forces to escort more than 70 ships through the strategic waterway.
Security analysts say the combination of state-backed threats, regional conflict and opportunistic maritime attacks has created one of the most challenging operating environments for commercial shipping in years, leaving shipowners increasingly dependent on armed security teams, naval escorts and real-time intelligence to safely navigate the region’s waters.