On Saturday, February 17, the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for an attack on a “British oil tanker” in the Red Sea, which security authorities and the US State Department had reported the day before. “The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces conducted an operation in the Red Sea against the British oil tanker Pollux using a large number of naval missiles,” their military spokesman Yahya Saree said.
The British Maritime Safety Agency (UKMTO) and maritime transport specialist security company Ambrey reported an explosion near a ship off the town of Mokha on Friday. “The ship and its crew are safe,” UKMTO said, while Ambrey reported minor damage.
The US State Department then clarified that a missile fired from Yemen had hit a “Panamanian-flagged vessel en route to India that was carrying crude oil.”
Also read: Who are the Yemeni Houthis involved in the Hamas-Israel war?
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“Illegal attacks”
“This is a new example of illegal attacks on international maritime transport that continue after numerous calls for the Houthis to stop their activities,” he stressed, announcing the entry into force on Friday of American sanctions against the Houthis, designated as terrorists in January legal entity.
These Iran-backed insurgents have increased attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November, forcing many shipowners to bypass this crucial maritime zone for international trade.
They claim to attack ships linked to Israel in “solidarity” with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with Hamas following the Palestinian Islamist movement's unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.
Since January, they have also targeted British and American ships in response to US and UK attacks against their positions. The Houthis claimed responsibility for another attack on “a British ship” in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday.
On Saturday, they said they “wouldn’t hesitate.”[aient] not to conduct and expand its military operations to defend and enforce Yemen [leur] Solidarity with the Palestinian people.” Rebels control the capital Sanaa and large areas in northwest Yemen, a country that has been raging civil war since 2014.