'The scale and tactical nature of the Houthi attacks have changed'

Videos of sinking vessels

A video released on Houthi propaganda channels claimed to show 2012-built, 36,830-dwt bulk carrier Eternity C sinking, and the Houthi-linked X profile Ameen Hayyan posted an image and video purportedly of the vessel foundering along with statements suggesting the vessel was targeted due to visits or intended visits to occupied Palestinian ports. 

"We weren’t joking when we told you that entry to the ports of occupied Palestine is prohibited until the siege is lifted and the aggression on Gaza stops," the account posted. 

Attributing one post as a statement by the Yemeni Armed Forces regarding its naval forces’ targeting Eternity C, the account claimed the vessel "was heading to the port of Umm al-Rashrash in occupied Palestine," and was targeted with an unmanned boat and six cruise and ballistic missiles. 

However, Cosmoship Management said the vessel had delivered a cargo for the UN World Food Program to Berbera, Somalia, and was sailing in ballast condition to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for fuel at the time of the attack. Jeddah was the destination listed on the vessel’s AIS transponder log.

Still, multiple maritime security firms, including UK-based maritime security firm Ambrey have assessed that links to Israel are the primary target profile criteria for Houthi attacks on commercial vessels. 

Reacting to the attack on Eternity C, Ambrey managing director for intelligence and risk analysis Joshua Hutchinson said "Vessels continue to be targeted by affiliation to Israel. The scale and tactical nature of the Houthi attacks have changed. With no military assets in the area, private security guards stand between the Houthis and the seafarers," and noted the attacks came as "response to the attacks by the IDF".

Another video posted to Houthi media channels claimed to show the sinking of 2016-built Ultramax bulker Magic Seas after the 63,000-dwt vessel took fire from multiple small ships using a variety of weapons. 

"The assault involved eight skiffs and four unmanned surface vessels (USVs). Two of the USVs were neutralised at close range (approximately 100 m off the port side) by defensive fire from the vessel’s security team. The remaining two USVs impacted the ship, one amidships on the starboard side, igniting a fire in the cargo hold, and the other at the aft port quarter, causing limited flooding in the steering gear compartment," a report from Greece-based maritime security firm Diaplous said.

UK-based maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said the incident underscored the importance of thorough risk assessments and pointed out "the vessel’s affiliation to Israel". Vanguard Tech also confirmed the attacks caused the "vessel to flood and the crew to abandon ship", which included 19 crew and three security personnel.

A report from the European Joint Naval initiative EUNAVFOR ATALANTA said the EU’s navy unit helped to ensure the safe recovery of all 22 personnel from the abandoned Magic Seas.

Diaplous noted the vessel was not directly affiliated with ’Israeli interests’ but said the Houthis were likely to have targeted the ship based on prior calls at Israeli ports. 

The videos in question, which could not be independently verified, are circulating on social media platform X, including those below. Editor’s note: the videos contain disturbing scenes of war and attacks on merchant ships and may be distressing or inappropriate for some viewers. 

Houthi media channels utilised similar video propaganda in the militia group’s first high-profile attack on commercial shipping in November 2023, when helicopters were used to board pure car and truck carrier Galaxy Leader, owned by the Israeli Abraham Rami Ungar-controlled Ray Car Carriers, which was then hijacked and taken, with its 25 crew, to Yemen. The hijacked crew were eventually released in January 2025. In recent days, the Israel Defense Force launched airstrikes on three of Yemen’s ports and a power plant as well as the hijacked vehicle carrier Galaxy Leader. 

Following the hijacking of Galaxy Leader, during the more than 12 months of regular missile attacks on commercial shipping targets transiting the Red Sea between late 2023 and early 2025, video propaganda was not in regular use by Houthi forces. A brief and fragile ceasefire on Israeil strikes on Gaza and a later Houthi-US ceasefire agreement saw Houthi attacks on commercial shipping targets cease for a short period before the July 2025 attacks on Magic Seas and Eternity C. 

Environmental threats from sinking vessels

According to Yemen’s internationally recognised government Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani, Magic Seas was carrying approximately 17,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate when it was scuttled by Yemen’s rebel Houthi militia, "threatening the marine environment and international shipping lanes". Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound commonly used in fertiliser production and explosives manufacturing.

The US-based, non-profit Arab Gulf States Institute (AGSI) have labelled Houthis as ’ecocriminals’ based on their tactics of attacking, burning and sinking commercial vessels. In a March 2025 analysis, the AGSI said "The Houthi assaults on shipping traffic are deliberate acts of marine pollution, weaponising oil tankers and bulk carriers to advance their political and military agenda."

The report cited numerous examples of Houthi attacks that continue to endanger what the group described as the fragile but abundant ecosystem of the Red Sea.

"Home to about 1,200 fish species and over 350 types of coral, the region’s coral reefs are one of the world’s richest marine ecosystems and most resilient environments to climate change. Additionally, the Red Sea’s high marine biodiversity generates multimillion-dollar revenue streams for the tourism and fishing industries of littoral countries," the AGSI said.

Among the examples of threats to the region’s rich and varied habitats, the AGSI looked at the Houthi attacks on Greek oil tanker Sounion, which burned for more than four weeks with 150,000 tonnes of crude oil on board before the Houthis allowed EU naval operation Aspides to launch a salvage operation to tow the vessel to safe waters. Had the oil from the vessel spilled, it would have, AGSI said, resulted in the fifth-largest oil spill in history. The report noted the sinking of coal carrying bulk carrier Tutor, as well as an indepth look at the threat from bulk carrier Rubymar, which was sunk by the Houthis in 2024.

On 2 March, Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier Rubymar sank in the Red Sea after being struck by a Houthi missile two weeks earlier on 18 February. According to the US Navy’s Central Command (Centcom), the vessel had been slowly taking on water and drifting following the attack, which caused a 30-km oil slick to form around the vessel. The ship was carrying about 21,000 tonnes of ammonium phosphate sulphate fertiliser as cargo, Centcom said.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government’s foreign minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) at the time, "The sinking of Rubymar is an environmental catastrophe that Yemen and the region have never experienced before."

According to AGSI’s analysis, "Although the cargo holds are still sealed, a massive leak of fertiliser into the Red Sea waters would cause extensive algal blooms with harmful consequences for the entire ecosystem, including large-scale fish die-offs and seawater contamination."

In its assessment in March, during a lull in Houthi attacks on commercial vessels, AGSI said that, although no large-scale ecological catastrophe has occurred yet, "any future Houthi attacks carry the considerable risk of triggering a mass pollution event, which could cause irreversible damage to the Red Sea region". 

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