DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Saturday they had attacked a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden, as a multinational naval force said two missiles exploded near a Liberia-flagged vessel.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting the ship (Groton) in the Gulf of Aden,” Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement.

He said the ship had been hit and that it was the second time it had been attacked after a similar incident on 3 August.

The Yemeni rebels have waged a campaign against international shipping passing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that they say is in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Saturday, the Joint Maritime Information Center, run by a Western naval coalition, reported that the Groton had been targeted by two ballistic missiles when it was 130 nautical miles east of Aden.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency, run by Britain’s Royal Navy, said the captain reported that all crew were safe and the Groton was “proceeding to next port of call.”

The Houthi attacks, targeting ships that they say are linked to Israel, have disrupted traffic in a maritime zone that is vital to global trade.

Meanwhile, the US Central Command (Centcom) said Saturday that US forces destroyed a Houthi drone and an uncrewed surface vessel in rebel-controlled areas of Yemen over the past 24 hours.