A warning then the attack: Houthis release video of strike in Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have published a video of an attack on a bulk carrier in the Red Sea, showing how they targeted the Magic Seas with small, fast boats and suicide drones.

The Houthis released video of their attack on the Magic Seas cargo ship.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have published a video of an attack they carried out on a bulk carrier in the Red Sea at the weekend, showing how they targeted the Magic Seas with small, fast boats and suicide drones.

The vessel, sailing under the flag of Liberia, had been transiting the Red Sea toward the Suez Canal when it was attacked.

An official from UK maritime security firm Ambrey confirmed the Magic Seas sank a day after the attack.

In a video posted on X, the Houthis are heard calling the Magic Seas on the VHF channel 16, ordering the ship to slow and stop.

An officer on the ship refuses the command, after which a swarm of boats approach the boat, with gunfire heard.

Kamikaze drones are also sent to the boat, with an explosion and a huge plume of smoke seen on the ship.

مشاهد استهداف وإغراق السفينة “ماجيك سيز” في البحر الأحمر في عملية نوعية للقوات المسلحة اليمنية - 6 يوليو 2025م pic.twitter.com/YKJoz1n0ud

— الإعلام الحربي اليمني (@MMY1444) July 8, 2025

The video then shows militants, carrying guns and wearing balaclavas, boarding the ship and storming the bridge, running over broken glass.

They then appeared in drone footage chanting: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

The militants then appear to have attached explosives to the ship and detonated them, causing the Magic Seas to sink. The video shows a time-lapse of the ship sinking.

No crew can be seen, suggesting all 22 had abandoned ship before the Houthis boarded it. The vessel was loaded with fertiliser and steel billets for Turkey.

The Houthi militants boarded the ship apparently after the crew had fled.

The video is reminiscent of that of the attack on the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis filmed themselves seizing in November 2023.

The Galaxy Leader, which has been in Houthi hands since, was targeted by the Israel Defence Forces this week. The IDF said Houthis had installed a radar system on the ship and used it to track other vessels in the Red Sea to facilitate their attacks on shipping.

Another attack this week on the Greek-owned Eternity C cargo ship killed three sailors and injured two others, an EU naval force has confirmed.

The assaults are the first Houthi attacks on shipping since late 2024 on the waterway where more ships had begun to pass through in recent weeks.

“We haven’t seen any real attacks on merchant shipping since December last year,” said Wolf-Christian Paes, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “And they’re back with a bang.”

The militants run along the deck toward the ship’s bridge.

“The Houthis are once again showing blatant disregard for human life, undermining freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” said the embassy, which has operated out of Saudi Arabia for nearly a decade due to the civil war in Yemen.

“The intentional murder of innocent mariners shows us all the Houthis' true colours and will only further the Houthis' isolation.”

The militants filmed themselves entering the bridge, whose windows were shattered.

The attack on the Magic Seas drew international criticism.

The militants boarded the ship before planting explosives to blow it up.

“It is the first such attack against a commercial vessel in 2025, a serious escalation endangering maritime security in a vital waterway for the region and the world,” the EU warned.

“These attacks directly threaten regional peace and stability, global commerce and freedom of navigation as a global public good. They can negatively impact the already dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.”

The UN condemned the Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and called on the rebels to comply with Security Council resolutions demanding an immediate halt to all attacks.

“We continue to be very worried and concerned about the escalation that we’re seeing,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The United Arab Emirates later said an Abu Dhabi Ports vessel rescued the 22 sailors aboard the Magic Seas. The Philippines said 17 Filipinos were on the Magic Seas and another 21 on the Eternity C.

The two attacks, and a round of Israeli air strikes early Monday targeting the rebels, raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in US and Western forces, particularly after US President Donald Trump’s administration targeted the rebels in a major air strike campaign.

The attacks come 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 US air strikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during the Israel-Iran war in June.

AP