A new photo released by the French military on Thursday captures one of its warships battling an explosive drone boat during a rescue mission in the Red Sea. The European Union's counter-Houthi mission, known as Operation Aspides, said that it dispatched a French frigate to rescue the crew of a wounded commercial tanker following an attack on Wednesday that left the vessel without power and stranded in the water. As the frigate arrived in the area, the warship detected another incoming attack on the oil tanker from a drone boat “heavily loaded” with explosives and destroyed the threat on-site, the French military said Thursday. The military said that the frigate then evacuated more than two dozen crew members from the tanker, which is presently anchored in international waters. The French armed forces did not specify who was responsible for the incident, but it follows months of regular attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels on merchant shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with unmanned systems and missiles and drone boats in assaults like this. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the initial or follow-on attack on the tanker. On the latest incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, an element of the Royal Navy, said that gunmen in small watercraft opened fire on the Greek-flagged MV Sounion as it was sailing through the Red Sea on Wednesday. The vessel was later struck by several unidentified projectiles. The attack left the Sounion without power and adrift off the coast of Yemen, prompting the French rescue mission. Operation Aspides said on Thursday that the crew was transported to the nearest safe port of call in Djibouti. “The lives of seafarers and freedom on the high seas are nonnegotiable values and their protection is a key objective” of the security mission, Operation Aspides said. But the European Union warned that the Sounion and the loads of crude oil it's carrying “now represents a navigational and environmental hazard. It is essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.” The incident appears to be the latest successful attack on a Red Sea vessel. The Houthis have struck a number of merchant ships since they began their campaign last October, even sinking at least two of them. US and European naval forces operating in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been tasked with intercepting Houthi missiles and drones, and the American military frequently carries out strikes in Yemen targeting rebel facilities and weapons. US forces destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile and radar system earlier in the week, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fires broke out Friday on a Greek-flagged oil tanker previously attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this week, with the vessel now appearing to be adrift in the Red Sea, authorities said. It wasn’t immediately clear what had happened to the oil tanker Sounion, which had been abandoned by its crew on Thursday and reportedly anchored in place. The Houthis didn’t immediately acknowledge the fire. The rebels are suspected to have gone back and attacked at least one other vessel that later sank as part of their monthslong campaign against shipping in the Red Sea over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that’s disrupted a trade route that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it annually. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported the fires in a note to mariners on Friday night. “UKMTO have received a report that three fires have been observed on vessel,” the center said. “The vessel appears to be drifting.” A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said American officials were aware of the fires and continued to monitor the situation. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French destroyer to nearby Djibouti, the EU’s Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea said on Thursday. The Sounion has 150,000 tons of crude oil aboard and represents a “navigational and environmental hazard,” the mission warned. “It is essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.” The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the United States or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the U.S. military told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. Early Thursday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said that the Lincoln had reached the waters of the Middle East, without elaborating. Washington also has ordered the USS Georgia-guided missile submarine to the region, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group was in the Gulf of Oman. Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region and the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea. The Greek shipping ministry identified the oil tanker as the Sounion, suspected to have been hit by Yemen's Houthi rebels. A French destroyer has rescued 29 mariners from an oil tanker that came under repeated attack in the Red Sea on Thursday. The tanker, identified as the Sounion by the Greek shipping ministry, is suspected to have been attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels as part of their months-long campaign targeting ships in the Red Sea. French officials said they also destroyed a bomb-carrying drone boat in the area. Earlier on Thursday, the British military reported that the Sounion was drifting ablaze in the ocean after suffering repeated attacks. The Sounion is now at anchor in the Red Sea and no longer drifting, according to the European Union's Operation Aspides. However, it wasn't clear if the vessel was still ablaze. Military officials did not name the French destroyer involved in the rescue. In the attack on Wednesday, men on small boats first opened fire with small arms about 140 kilometres west of the rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. The Houthis did not claim responsibility for the attack, but acknowledged retaliatory US airstrikes in Hodeida which the American military's Central Command claimed destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile and radar system. Yemen's Houthi rebels have targeted over 80 vessels in the Red Sea with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. During their campaign, they have seized one vessel and sank two others, killing four sailors. The rebels claim they are targeting ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK in order to retaliate against Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, however multiple ships that have been attacked have little connection to the conflict. A US-led coalition has attempted to intercept missiles and drones launched by the rebels, which have threatened to disrupt a trade route through which an estimated $1 trillion in cargo passes each year. The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran has raised fears of a wider conflict, with the US military ordering an additional F-22 fighter jets into the region. America has also ordered the USS Georgia-guided missile submarine into the Middle East, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group is located in the Gulf of Oman. The Sounion was on its way from Iraq to Athens when it was attacked by more than a dozen people in two small boats. A crew of 25 has been rescued from a Greek-flagged oil tanker after it caught fire after multiple attacks in the Red Sea. The Sounion was attacked by more than a dozen people on two small boats who fired multiple projectiles at the ship when it was about 77 nautical miles (143km) west of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Wednesday morning, the Greek shipping ministry and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said. There was a brief exchange of fire, the UKMTO said. In a later update, it said the ship reported another attack that caused the fire and led the vessel to lose engine power and its ability to manoeuvre. On Thursday, the European Union’s Red Sea naval mission said it responded to a request from the shipping company and the vessel’s captain and dispatched a unit to provide protection to the crew of 23 Filipinos and two Russians. The crew abandoned the vessel and were rescued by the EU mission, an official told the Reuters news agency. There were no reports of injuries. As it approached the area on Thursday “a USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle) was successfully neutralised as it posed a threat to the MV SOUNION and its crew”, the mission official added. Greece’s Maritime Affairs Minister Christos Stylianides condemned what he described as “a flagrant violation of international law and a serious threat to the security of international shipping”. Greece said the ship could have been hit either by missiles or drones. The Iran-aligned Houthis began to target international shipping near Yemen last November, saying the move was in solidarity with Palestinians over the war in Gaza. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the Sounion attack. Delta Tankers, the ship’s operator, confirmed the ship was adrift and had sustained minor damage. The vessel was on its way from Iraq to a port near Athens where there are many refineries, the Greek port authority said. The ship is the third Delta Tankers-operated vessel to be targeted. Earlier this month, the Liberia-flagged Delta Atlantica and Delta Blue tankers were struck in separate attacks. In another incident south of the Yemeni port city of Aden, a merchant ship reported five explosions in nearby waters, UKMTO said, later identifying the vessel as the Panama-flagged SW North Wind I. The crew was reported to be unharmed and the vessel was proceeding to the next port of call, it added. Houthi attacks have prompted many ship owners to avoid the Red Sea region and send their vessels on lengthier and more costly routes around the southern tip of Africa.