Yemen’s Houthis claim two ship attacks

Military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree. – Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility Thursday, October 10, 2024, for two attacks on commercial vessels, with a British maritime agency confirming one ship had been struck and damaged.| PHOTO: Agence France-Presse

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility Thursday for two attacks on commercial vessels, with a British maritime agency confirming one ship had been struck and damaged.

A military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, said the tanker Olympic Spirit had been “targeted by 11 ballistic missiles and two drones and it was directly and severely hit” while sailing in the Red Sea.

Saree said the Liberia-flagged vessel was an “American oil tanker.”

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), run by the British Navy, said earlier that a vessel had been hit by an “unknown projectile and the vessel has sustained damage, no fires or casualties reported.”

Ambrey, a maritime security firm, said the chemicals tanker was hit on its bridge, “causing light damage,” 73 nautical miles southwest of Hodeida, a port city held by the Houthis.

READ: Houthi rebels say they attacked ship off Yemen

The ship, which was traveling from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Muscat in Oman, later reported two more explosions nearby, UKMTO and Ambrey said.

“The crew are reported safe. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity,” UKMTO added.

Saree said that the Houthis had also targeted a vessel called St. John in the Indian Ocean because the owner had violated a “ban on access to the ports of occupied Palestine by the company that owns the ship.”

The specialist MarineTraffic website lists St. John as a Malta-flagged container ship currently travelling from Mogadishu in Somalia to the United Arab Emirates.

READ: Houthi-struck oil tanker could spill ‘million barrels,’ US warns

Yemen’s Houthis, part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-linked groups, have targeted ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November in what they describe as support for Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war.

The attacks have seriously disrupted a route which carries 12 percent of global trade, triggering reprisal strikes by the United States and Britain against rebel targets in Yemen.

In more than 100 attacks over nearly a year, four sailors have been killed and two ships have sunk, while one vessel and its crew remain detained since being hijacked last November.