Yemen’s Houthis claim to hit 6 more ships with drones, missiles

SANAA, Yemen

Yemen’s Houthi group claimed Wednesday to have targeted six ships amid rising tensions in the Red Sea.

In a statement, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said that his fighters had attacked with drones and missiles the ships Laax, Morea and Sealady in the Red Sea.

He added that two more vessels, Alba and Maersk, were targeted in the Arabian Sea and Minerva Antonia in the Mediterranean Sea.

The spokesman, however, did not provide any details about the nationalities of the targeted vessels.

“The attacks were staged against these ships for violating a (Houthi) decision to ban access to the ports of occupied Palestine,” he added, in reference to Israel.

The Houthis have been targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, operated, or headed to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones in solidarity with Gaza, which has been under a devastating Israeli onslaught since last Oct. 7.

With the US and UK launching retaliatory airstrikes against Houthi sites inside Yemen, the Houthis declared that the group considers all American and British ships military targets.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul