Houthis Claim to Carry Out Three New Military Operations Against Commercial Ships
Yemen Monitor/Newsroom
The Houthi group said on Wednesday that it had carried out three new military operations against ships in the Red and Arabian Seas over the past few hours.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that his group had carried out two operations in the Red Sea against two ships owned by companies that had violated the ban of entering the ports of the occupied Palestinian territories.
“We carried out an operation with drones against an American ship in the eastern Arabian Sea and we will continue to carry out attacks,” he added.
Since November, the Houthis have targeted more than 112 commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and recently expanded their operations to the Indian Ocean. They said they were targeting ships linked to Israel, which is carrying out a brutal attack on Gaza Strip. However, the Yemeni government and experts say the Houthis’ goals are local to escape internal crises and improve their image in the region.
In response, US and Britain have been carrying out an airstrike campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels since January 11. As a result, the Houthis have announced the expansion of their operations to include US and British ships.