Yemen’s Houthis claim attacks on 3 United States, Israeli ships in Arabian Sea

Sanaa: Yemen’s Houthi group said they have attacked three ships owned by the United States and Israel in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The targeted ships were “Maersk Sentosa, Marthopolis, and MSC Patnaree,” said Yahya Sarea, the Houthi spokesman, in a televised statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Tuesday.

Sarea said that the first operation “targeted the US ship, Maersk Sentosa, in the Arabian Sea with several ballistic and winged missiles,” reports Xinhua news agency.

The second operation “targeted the ship, Marthopolis, in the Arabian Sea with drones” due to the company owning it had entered a port in Israel, he said.

The third operation targeted “the Israeli ship, MSC Patnaree, in the Gulf of Aden with several drones,” he said, adding that “the three operations achieved their goals successfully and the hits were direct and accurate.”

“Our operations will not stop until the Israeli aggression and siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip stop,” he said.

This is the latest in a series of Houthi attacks against ships transiting off Yemen since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict broke out last year.

The Houthi group, which controls much of northern Yemen, began in November last year to launch anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones targeting what they said were Israeli-linked ships transiting the Red Sea to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In response, the US-British naval coalition stationed in the waters has since January conducted air raids and missile strikes against Houthi targets to deter the group, but this only led to an expansion of Houthi attacks to include US and British commercial vessels and naval ships. (IANS)

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