Suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targets ship in Bab el-Mandeb Strait

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is due to replace the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, which has spent months in the Red Sea to counter Yemen’s Houthi rebels (Seaman Ryan Holloway/US Navy/AP)

A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday, as authorities acknowledged that the rebels had launched their longest-range attack yet on a US-flagged vessel near the Arabian Sea.

The sudden burst of attacks by the Houthis comes after an unexplained pause of a week and a half by the rebels.