DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea was taking on water Sunday night as its crew prepared to abandon the vessel.

The attack marks the first serious assault in the vital corridor for trade after a monthslong campaign by Yemen's Houthi rebels there.

Suspicion for the attack immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said it appeared bomb-carrying drone boats hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels' media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.

A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in U.S. and Western forces to the area, particularly after President Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.

And it comes 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 amid an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.

“It likely serves as a message that the Houthis continue to possess the capability and willingness to strike at strategic maritime targets regardless of diplomatic developments,” wrote Mohammad al-Basha, a Yemen analyst at the Basha Report risk advisory firm.

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center first said that an armed security team on the unidentified vessel had returned fire against an initial attack and that the “situation is ongoing.” It described the attack as happening some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the country's Houthi rebels.

“Authorities are investigating,” it said. It later said the ship was on fire after being “struck by unknown projectiles."

Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, issued an alert saying that a merchant ship had been “attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea.”

Ambrey later said the ship also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could mark a major escalation. It said two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship was taking on water and its crew were abandoning the vessel.

The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet referred questions to the military's Central Command, which said it was aware of the incident without elaborating.

Authorities did not identify the vessel for hours. However, the description of the vessel targeted matched against the Liberian-flagged bulk tanker Magic Seas, which had been broadcasting it had an armed security team on board in the vicinity the attack took place and had been heading north.

Its owners did not respond to a request for comment.

The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The group's al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack occurred, but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. However, Ambrey said the vessel targeted met “the established Houthi target profile," without elaborating.

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. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven't attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel. On Sunday, the group claimed launching a missile at Israel which the Israeli military said it intercepted.

Meanwhile, a wider, decadelong war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country’s exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a statemate. The Yemeni Coast Guard, which is loyal to the exiled government, has engaged in a firefight with at least one vessel in the Red Sea in the past as well.

Pirates from Somalia also have operated in the region, though typically they've sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews. But neither the Yemeni Coast Guard nor the pirates have been known to use drone boats in their attacks.