An attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea killed three mariners and wounded two others, a European Union naval force said Tuesday. The attack on the Greek-owned Eternity C followed a claim by the Houthis to have attacked and sank another vessel on Monday in the Red Sea, a vital maritime trade route.

The twin assaults are the first Houthi attacks on shipping since November 2024 and could signal the start of a new campaign by the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels threatening the waterway, which had begun to see more ships pass through it in recent weeks.

The Eternity C bulk carrier had been heading north toward the Suez Canal when it came under fire by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones on Monday night. Security guards on board also fired their weapons. The European Union Operation Aspides and the private security firm Ambrey both reported those details.

While the Houthis haven't claimed the attack, Yemen's exiled government and the EU force blamed the rebels for the attack.

The EU force offered the casualty information, saying one of the wounded crew members lost his leg in the attack. The crew remain stuck on board the vessel, which is now drifting in the Red Sea.

The Houthis separately attacked the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas on Sunday with drones, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, forcing its crew of 22 to abandon the vessel. The rebels later said the Magic Seas sank in the Red Sea.

FILE PHOTO: The Magic Seas cargo ship docked at a port in Ampelakia, Salamis Island
The Magic Seas cargo ship is seen docked at a port in Ampelakia, Salamis Island, Greece, Aug. 9, 2022, in a file handout image.
Nektarios Papadakis/Handout via REUTERS
The two attacks, and a round of Israeli airstrikes early Monday morning targeting infrastructure in rebel-held areas of Yemen, have raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in U.S. and Western forces, particularly after President Trump's administration targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign in April.

The attacks come at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance, and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during the Israel-Iran war in June.

The Houthis started launching strikes against vessels in the Red Sea, including U.S. warships, and against Israel, in what they describe as solidarity with the Palestinians, soon after Hamas sparked the war in Gaza by launching its unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel in October 2023.

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. Their campaign has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks.

The Houthis paused attacks until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis hadn't attacked a vessel until this weekend, though they did continue occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.

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