Aden Says Six Died on an Egyptian Food Carrier; the Houthis Say They Hit a Saudi Arms Ship

Yemen’s Aden-based government says the Tihamah, an Egyptian-owned, Tanzania-flagged small cargo ship carrying food, was struck in the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Tuesday 11 August, killing four crew and two members of the rescue force and wounding ten. Three of the four crew killed were Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian, per CNBC citing the Transport Ministry, which says the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles and describes a second strike on responders. Reuters, carried by NBC News, framed the deaths as the first from a Houthi strike on shipping since the war began on 28 February, and hedged them as unconfirmed; its casualty figure rests on two Yemeni coast guard sources and two military officials. The Houthi-run Saba agency said the group attacked a Saudi ship carrying military equipment, and did not name the vessel. The Saudi Center for International Communication did not respond to a request for comment.

The number moved within hours. CNN’s 11 August live blog cited the marine intelligence group Marisks, “based on initial reports,” describing the ship as Saudi-owned with three dead including two Pakistanis. UKMTO, the Royal Navy-affiliated reporting body, logged one incident in the strait that day: a ship hit by an unknown projectile, no attribution, no casualties. That is the only neutral trace. Semafor’s framing — the first deadly strike in Bab al-Mandeb in a year — uses a different baseline from Reuters' since-28-February line. The Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month, calling it a response to a Saudi siege; Riyadh denies besieging them. On 9 August, Houthi missiles and drones killed seven at the port of al-Makha, and CNN logged an attack on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery the same day.

Assessment: The disagreement is not over whether a ship was hit but over what it was carrying, and that distinction carries the legal weight. An Egyptian-owned food carrier makes the strike an attack on civilian shipping; a Saudi military-equipment vessel makes it a belligerent act in a declared blockade. Both descriptions come from parties to the war, and neither has published manifest, imagery or hull identification. UKMTO’s projectile log confirms only the event. Treat the six-dead figure as an Aden claim relayed by Reuters through four unnamed Yemeni officials, and note how Marisks' opening estimate — Saudi-owned, three dead — was superseded within a day. Same water, same week, same pattern as the Vela Nova.