Yemen’s Houthis claim to target two vessels in the Red Sea
No independent confirmation of attacks; US says it destroyed a Houthi patrol boat
CAIRO — Yemen’s Houthis on Friday said they targeted two vessels in the Red Sea with drones and missiles, but there was no independent confirmation of the purported attacks.
The group targeted the Elbella and AAL GENOA vessels with “a number of drones and ballistic and naval missiles,” the Iran-aligned group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.
Saree did not specify the date on which the strikes were carried out. Reuters did not receive any reports of incidents in the Red Sea on Friday.
Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, manager of the Malta-flagged Elbella container ship, declined comment. Reuters was not immediately able to reach the owner or manager of the Cyprus-flagged AAL Genoa general cargo vessel.
Separately, the United States Central Command said on Friday that Houthis launched in the past 24 hours four anti-ship ballistic missiles over the Red Sea, but there were no injuries or damage.
US forces destroyed one drone launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen into the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and also destroyed a Houthi patrol boat in the Red Sea, the US military said in a post on X.
The Houthi militia, which controls the most populous parts of Yemen, has staged attacks on ships in the waters off of the country since November in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The campaign has disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread and destabilize the wider Middle East.
The US and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in response to the attacks on shipping.
The leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Thursday the group’s operations against Israel, carried out with the group Islamic Resistance in Iraq, would intensify.