Direct proof of use
The clearest public Asef-linked incident in the 2023 Red Sea Crisis is the 16 January 2024 strike on the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier M/V Zografia in the Southern Red Sea. U.S. Central Command said Iranian-backed Houthi militants launched an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled Yemen into international shipping lanes and that Zografia reported being struck while remaining seaworthy.
Open-source naval analysis tied the video and missile outline to the Fateh-110/313 family and described Asef as the Houthi name for anti-ship guided versions in that family. Covert Shores assessed Asef/Fateh-313 as the more likely match while noting that the footage made exact identification difficult, and The War Zone described Asef as the largest purpose-built Houthi ASBM while discussing the same Zografia strike video.
Sources: CENTCOM Zografia Strike, Covert Shores Zografia ASBM, TWZ Zografia Strike Video
Timeline
Before the Zografia strike, IISS had identified Asef as a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile displayed in Houthi parades and assessed it as a rebranded ASBM version of Iran's Fateh-313. The same IISS analysis treated Houthi ASBMs as an emerging maritime-strike capability with uncertain real-world performance.
On 16 January 2024, CENTCOM reported the Zografia hit and the earlier destruction of four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles prepared for launch. On 31 January 2024, CENTCOM reported another Houthi ASBM fired from Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden and shot down by USS Carney, showing continued Houthi ASBM use in the same Red Sea crisis even when the exact missile model was not named.
Sources: IISS Houthi Anti-Ship Systems, CENTCOM Zografia Strike, CENTCOM Gulf of Aden ASBM
Narrative
Asef's conflict role was maritime strike and area denial for the Houthi movement. The weapon belongs to the anti-ship ballistic missile portion of the Houthi arsenal, aimed at threatening merchant and naval traffic across the Southern Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden rather than supporting a land front.
The public evidence separates weapon-class certainty from model certainty. CENTCOM provides official confirmation that Houthi forces fired ASBMs from Yemen and that one struck Zografia. Covert Shores and The War Zone provide the model-level discussion: the observed missile broadly matched the Fateh-110/313 family, Asef is the Houthi anti-ship name associated with that family, and Asef was a plausible or likely match for the Zografia weapon rather than a conclusively recovered munition.
The documented effect in the Zografia incident was a direct hit on a bulk carrier without reported casualties and with the ship still able to continue transit. The broader significance was that Houthi ASBMs became an operational maritime threat during the crisis, forcing merchant traffic and naval defenders to treat ballistic anti-ship attack as part of the Red Sea risk environment.
Sources: CENTCOM Zografia Strike, Covert Shores Zografia ASBM, TWZ Zografia Strike Video, IISS Houthi Anti-Ship Systems
