ERITREA – SHIP ON THE RED SEA – MASSAWA JERUSALEM (AP) — Missile fire struck a ship Monday just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, officials said. Details remained scarce on the missile strike, though it marked the latest attack roiling global shipping amid Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Suspicion immediately fell on the Houthis. Sunday’s attack toward the American warship marked the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since America and allied nations began strikes Friday on the rebels following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea. READ MORE: How Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea threaten global shipping The Houthis — a Shiite rebel group allied with Iran that seized Yemen’s capital in 2014 — have targeted that crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe over the Israel-Hamas war, attacks that threaten to widen that conflict into a regional conflagration. They did not immediately acknowledge the attack. It wasn’t presently clear whether the U.S. would retaliate for the latest attacks, though President Joe Biden has said he “will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.” The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, said the attack on the ship Monday happened some 110 miles (177 kilometers) miles southeast of Aden. It offered few details, other than to say the ship’s captain reported that the “port side of vessel hit from above by a missile.” It did not identify the ship or elaborate. FILE PHOTO: Houthi military helicopter over the Galaxy Leader cargo […]