Yemen's Houthis targeted 102 Israel, US, UK ships since October

Yemen’s Houthi group yesterday said that it had targeted 102 Israeli, US and British vessels since Israel launched its devastating war on the besieged Gaza Strip in October, Anadolu reported.

“Some 102 Israel, US and British ships were attacked during 202 days of Israeli aggression on Gaza,” group leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi said in a speech aired by the Houthi-run Al-Masirah television.

He added that around two Israel-linked ships are targeted daily by the group.

“The navigation of US ships in the Red Sea has dropped by 80 per cent,” he added.

Al-Houthi said the group seeks to expand and strengthen its operations in the Indian Ocean, stressing that as a result US ships have resorted to taking longer sea routes which affected the global economy and increased the cost of shipping, insurance of maritime transport and prices of goods.

Read: Houthis announce drone strikes on US, Israel ships

“The cost of insurance operations for one ship for some companies in America amounted to $50 million, and this is unprecedented and represents a real problem for them,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from the US, the UK or Israel on the claim.

Yesterday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group had fired a number of ballistic and winged missiles at several targets in Israel’s port city of Eilat.

The Houthis have been targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, operated, or heading to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been under a devastating Israeli war since 7 October 2023. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Tel Aviv’s bombing campaign in Gaza.

The US launched a coalition to repel Houthi attacks in the waterways on the day the International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearing South Africa’s case in which it accuses Israel of commiting genocide in the Gaza Strip.