Yemen's Houthis denied claims of responsibility for a drone attack on a US-owned ship at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta. The Houthi-run Saba news agency reported that an official from the movement's foreign relations office described the claims as 'baseless'.
The attack targeted the US-owned floating storage vessel Energos Winter and the Greek-owned tanker GasLog Salem while they were anchored at Damietta Port. Both ships caught fire as a result of the drone strike.
First attack on Egyptian territory
The incident was the first recorded attack on Egyptian territory since the latest wave of conflict between the US and Iran began. No group has yet claimed responsibility, and Egyptian officials have not publicly made any formal accusation.
The attack on Damietta marks a significant geographical escalation, with hostilities spreading from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Security analysts assess that the operation carried a strategic message aimed at demonstrating that US-linked assets are vulnerable beyond traditional conflict zones.
Analysts weigh distance and source speculation
HA Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute noted that the attack took place approximately 1,300 kilometers from Iran and about 2,000 kilometers from Yemen. Hellyer said that due to this distance, it was unlikely to have been carried out by a drone launched directly from Iranian territory, and that Yemen's Houthis or Iran-backed militias in Iraq could have conducted such an operation.
Professor Andreas Krieg of King's College London suggested that a drone launched from Lebanon's Mediterranean coast could approach Damietta over the sea, avoiding Israeli and Egyptian airspace. Mustafa Kemal El-Seyyid, a political science professor at Cairo University, argued that Lebanon's Hezbollah would avoid provoking Egypt, which has the largest army in the Arab world.
Pressure on Egypt's diplomatic efforts
Analysts believe the attack may have been aimed at pressuring Egypt, which has for months supported diplomatic efforts to reduce regional tensions by keeping communication channels open with both Washington and Tehran. Krieg said, 'I would not automatically interpret this as an attack on Egypt itself,' noting that the operation was intended to show that US assets are vulnerable beyond the Gulf.
Hellyer warned that if an Iran-aligned group was responsible, it could damage Tehran's regional relations. 'Cairo and others would view any attack on Egyptian territory by an Iran-aligned group as a severe escalation,' Hellyer said, adding that such a development would carry long-term diplomatic costs for Iran.
Security and economic concerns in the Mediterranean
The attack raised new concerns about maritime security in the Mediterranean, which commercial traffic is increasingly using as an alternative corridor due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea since late 2023 had increased reliance on the Suez Canal and Egypt's energy infrastructure.
Former Damietta Port Chairman Major General Eymen Salah noted that Egypt is increasingly relying on Damietta as an alternative energy import hub due to instability in the Gulf. The maritime sector, including the Suez Canal—one of Egypt's largest sources of foreign currency revenue—has suffered significant economic losses since the Houthis began their Red Sea attacks. The spillover of hostilities into the Mediterranean poses a new threat to regional trade and energy security.
