Dubai, Sep 1 (AP) The Houthi rebels of Yemen have claimed responsibility for launching a missile at an oil tanker in the Red Sea, off the coast of Saudi Arabia, raising the specter of renewed threats to the strategically vital maritime route.
Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, announced in a prerecorded message on the Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah, that they targeted the vessel, named the Scarlet Ray, alleging its connections to Israel. Efforts to contact the ship's owners were unsuccessful.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military center monitoring Middle East shipping, reported that a ship near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, detected a splash and a bang off its side, indicative of a possible strike.
Between November 2023 and December 2024, the Houthis intensely targeted over 100 ships with adverse means amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. This campaign has resulted in the sinking of four vessels and the loss of at least eight mariners' lives.
During a brief ceasefire in the war, the Iranian-backed Houthis paused their offensive actions. However, after facing an aggressive campaign of airstrikes initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump, two vessels were sunk by the Houthis in July, killing four people on board, with additional crew members reportedly held by the rebels.
The resurgence in Houthi attacks aligns with the tenuous state of a new potential ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Additionally, the prospects for U.S.-Iran negotiations over Iran's faltering nuclear program are uncertain following Israel's 12-day conflict with Iran, during which U.S. forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites.
Last week, Israel conducted a sequence of airstrikes, targeting and killing the Houthis' prime minister and several members of their Cabinet. In apparent retaliation, the Houthis attacked the vessel and seized raided offices of the United Nations’ food, health, and children's agencies in Yemen's capital, detaining at least 11 UN employees. (AP) GRS GRS
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