"The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against the commercial ship, 'MSC UNITED' with appropriate naval missiles," according to a Houthi statement.

The vessel was reportedly en route to Pakistan when it came under missile attack, however, there were no reported injuries to crew members, as damage is being assessed. The Houthis said the ship rejected three warning calls before it was fired upon.

Scant details have emerged, but Tuesday's incident happened in parallel with a fresh Houthi missile attack on Israel. The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea was cited in the following: 

Sarea also said the group carried out drone attacks on the southern Israeli city of Eilat "and other areas in occupied Palestine".

In a statement, the group said they "carried out a targeting operation against a commercial ship" and launched a number of "drones against military targets" in southern Israel.

Even as Washington has threatened increased intervention in waters off Yemen, these Houthis attacks have only increased.

The Yemeni rebel group has declared war on any vessel linked to Israel, or bound for Israeli ports. Tuesday's attack follows fresh weekend incidents as well, described in the WSJ as follows:

The U.S. Navy said late Saturday that two more vessels had been attacked that day by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, bringing the number of commercial ships attacked near a crucial passageway between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East to 15. The Pentagon said earlier in the day that a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was struck by a drone launched directly from Iran, a claim Tehran denied.