Houthis ‘launched attacks’ on 3 ships, including one in Mediterranean

Yemen’s Houthis have launched attacks on three ships in the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Sea, the movement’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Friday, Reuters has reported. The attacks are the latest in a months-long campaign of Houthi strikes against regional shipping in what the group says is solidarity with Palestinians the Gaza Strip who are facing Israel’s genocidal military offensive.

Sarea said in a televised speech that Houthi forces had targeted the Yannis in the Red Sea, the Essex in the Mediterranean Sea and MSC Alexandra in the Arabian Sea. “Several missiles were aimed at the Essex in the Mediterranean Sea while it was violating the ban that prevents entry into occupied Palestinian ports,” he added. The spokesman did not say when the attacks took place.

Earlier this month, the leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, said that all ships heading to Israeli ports would be attacked by the movement, not just those in the Red Sea region which it has sought to strike before.

The movement has launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships in the crucial shipping channels of the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandab strait and the Gulf of Aden since November to show their support for the Palestinians in Gaza. This has forced shipping companies to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and has stoked fears that the Israel war against the Palestinians could spread and destabilise the Middle East.

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