UPDATE: British Ship Rubymar Hit by Houthi Missile Sinks in Red Sea.
A Houthi missile strike on Feb. 18 had blown a hole in the cargo vessel, Rubymar, which was shipping 22,000 metric tons of Saudi fertilizer to Bulgaria. That evening, the crew abandoned the vessel, flagged in Belize, and it vanished into the sea late Friday after taking on water for two weeks.
The Houthis have carried out more than 60 attacks in the Red Sea region, upending the shipping industry’s ability to travel through one of the world’s busiest commercial waterways, which connects Asia to Europe and beyond through Egypt’s Suez Canal.
The U.S. and its allies have sent warships to the Red Sea, and the U.S. and the U.K. have conducted airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen to deter the group from more attacks on the shipping industry. But the Houthis have proved resilient, saying they will continue to attack what they say are ships connected to Israel in response to its invasion of Gaza, though many of the vessels have no connection to Israel.
They’re at war with civilization.