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The Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen announced late on February 1 that they attacked a British commercial ship in the Red Sea that was heading to “the ports of occupied Palestine.”
“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,” Houthi military spokesman, Brigade General Yahya Saree, said in a statement.
“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.
Earlier, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a detachment of the Royal Navy, said in an advisory note that an explosion was reported at a distance off a vessel’s starboard side west of Yemen’s Hodeidah. The vessel and crew were reported safe by the UKMTO.
The attack came just hours after the United States Central Command carried out two waves of strikes on Yemen’s Sa’dah and al-Hudaydah, targeting a ground-to-air missile and suicide drones of the Houthis.
The command also announced the interception of a drone over the Gulf of Aden and an “explosive uncrewed surface vehicle” in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have targeted dozens of Israel-affiliated vessels and others owned by the U.S. and the UK using missiles and drones since November 19 in response to the ongoing Israeli war and siege on Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 26,000 Palestinians.
The U.S. and the UK retaliated by carrying out dozens of strikes on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in recent weeks. However, the group remains undeterred.
