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An aerial drone likely launched by\u00a0Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels<\/a>\u00a0struck and damaged a vessel in the Red Sea<\/a> on Sunday, officials said, the latest attack by the group targeting the vital maritime corridor.<\/p>\n The attack comes as\u00a0the U.S. has sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back home<\/a>\u00a0after an eight-month deployment that saw it lead the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have seen shipping drastically drop through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on.<\/p>\n The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the British military\u2019s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the vessel sustained damage but its mariners on board \u201cwere reported safe.\u201d It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage, but said an investigation was ongoing.<\/p>\n The private security firm Ambrey identified the ship involved as a Liberia-flagged container ship bound for Qingdao, China.<\/p>\n The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks<\/a>\u00a0targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have\u00a0seized one vessel<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0sunk two<\/a>\u00a0since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with\u00a0a series of strikes May 30<\/a>\u00a0killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.<\/p>\n The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war \u2014 including those bound for the Houthis\u2019 main benefactor, Iran.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Eisenhower<\/a>, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after\u00a0an over eight-month deployment<\/a>\u00a0in combat that the Navy says is\u00a0its most intense since World War II<\/a>. The San Diego-based\u00a0USS Theodore Roosevelt<\/a>\u00a0will take the Eisenhower\u2019s place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.<\/p>\n\n