Yemen’s Houthi militant group said on Friday that it launched attacks on three ships in the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Sea.
The reported attacks are the latest in a months-long campaign of Houthi strikes against regional shipping in what the group says is solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in the Gaza war.
The Houthis’ military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech that Houthi forces had targeted the Yannis ship in the Red Sea, the Essex in the Mediterranean Sea and MSC Alexandra in the Arabian Sea.
He said his group fired several missiles at the ship Essex in the Mediterranean Sea “while it was violating the decision ban that prevents entry into occupied Palestinian ports”.
The U.S. Central Command said on Friday that the Houthis had launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles into the Red Sea on May 23, but no injuries or damage were reported.
The Iran-aligned Houthi militants have 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 the Gaza war. This has forced shipping lines to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and has stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread and destabilise the Middle East.
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