Houthis say they targeted British commercial ship in Red Sea

SANAA, Yemen

Yemen’s Houthi group said Thursday that they targeted a British commercial ship in the Red Sea that was heading to “the ports of occupied Palestine” with naval missiles.

The statement was released by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree on his official X account.

“In victory for the oppression of the Palestinian people and as part of a response to the American-British aggression against our country, the naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted a British commercial ship in the Red Sea that was heading to the ports of occupied Palestine with appropriate naval missiles,” Saree said.

“The operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces in the Arabian Sea and Red Sea against Israeli shipping or ships heading to the ports of occupied Palestine will continue until the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted,” he added.

There has been no immediate response from the British side regarding the Houthi statement.

In solidarity with Gaza, which has been under a destructive Israeli onslaught with American support since Oct. 7 last year, the Houthis target shipping vessels in the Red Sea owned or operated by Israeli companies or transporting goods to and from Israel.

With tensions escalating due to the US and UK conducting a series of joint air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, the Houthis declared that they consider all American and British ships military targets.

Intermittently since Jan. 12, a coalition led by the United States has conducted airstrikes targeting what they claim to be “Houthi locations" in various parts of Yemen in response to their attacks in the Red Sea and are occasionally met with retaliatory responses from the group.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala