US says Houthi rebels targeted Saudi-owned oil tanker in latest Red Sea attack
CENTCOM assesses that Iran-backed group’s ballistic missile attack targeted tanker carrying some two million barrels of oil, slams ‘reckless acts of terrorism’
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a Panama-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea on Monday, authorities said, as a nearby Saudi-flagged tanker ship was also said by US Central Command to have come under fire from the group.
The attacks are the latest in the Iranian-backed rebels’ campaign that has disrupted the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and has halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen.
The new attacks on oil tankers also come amid efforts to salvage the still-burning Sounion oil tanker hit by the Houthis on August 23, seeking to head off the potential ecological disaster posed by its cargo of 1 million barrels of crude oil.
In Monday’s first assault, two ballistic missiles hit the oil tanker Blue Lagoon I and a third exploded near the ship, the multination Joint Maritime Information Center overseen by the US Navy said.
“All crew on board are safe (no injury reported),” the center said. “The vessel sustained minimal damage but does not require assistance.”
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the attack on the Blue Lagoon I late Monday night.
The Blue Lagoon I is traveling south through the Red Sea to an unlisted destination. The vessel was coming from Russia’s port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea and had been broadcasting that it had Russian-origin cargo on board.
In recent months, the Blue Lagoon I traveled to India, which gets more than 40% of its oil imports from Russia despite Moscow’s ongoing war on Ukraine and the international sanctions it faces over it.
The Greek-based firm operating the ship could not be reached. The Joint Maritime Information Center said it assessed that the ship “was targeted due to other vessels within its company structure making recent port calls in Israel.” Saree also cited that as the reason the Houthis attacked the vessel.
Sept 2 U.S. Central Command Update
In the past 24 hours, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully destroyed two missile systems in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
It was determined these systems presented an imminent threat to U.S. and coalition forces, and… pic.twitter.com/XdKq6g5V16
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 3, 2024
Later on Monday morning, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center reported a second attack off of the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeida. The private security firm Ambrey said an aerial drone hit a merchant ship, though no damage or injuries were reported. The attack happened only a few kilometers (miles) from where the Blue Lagoon I attack occurred, Ambrey said.
The US military’s CENTCOM, which oversees American operations in the Middle East, identified the second vessel as the Saudi-flagged oil tanker Amjad and blamed the attack on the Houthis. The Amjad carried 2 million barrels of oil, it said.
It added that both tankers were targeted with “two ballistic missiles and a one-way attack uncrewed aerial system.”
“These reckless acts of terrorism by the Houthis continue to destabilize regional and global commerce, as well as put the lives of civilian mariners and maritime ecosystems at risk,” CENTCOM said.
The US military also destroyed two Houthi missile systems in strikes on Monday, the command added.
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack on the Amjad. However, it can take the Iran-backed hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
In the case of the Amjad attack, the Houthis likely did not claim it given a yearslong, de facto ceasefire in which the group has not attacked Saudi Arabia as the kingdom tries to reach a peace deal with the rebels. Saudi Arabia also reached a Chinese-mediated detente with Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, last year, and it is still holding.
Saudi Arabia launched a war against the Houthis in March 2015 in support of Yemen’s exiled government, which earlier had been thrown out of the capital, Sanaa, by the rebels.
Saudi Arabia similarly did not acknowledge the attack on the Amjad, possibly to lower any pressure on it to respond militarily. Yemen’s war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October following the October 7 Hamas terror assault in southern Israel. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a United States-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.
The rebels claim that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
