Yemen’s Houthis launch missile that lands near oil tanker in Red Sea

DUBAI (AP): Yemen’s Houthi militants said Monday they launched a missile at an oil tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, potentially renewing their attacks targeting shipping through the crucial global waterway.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the launch in a prerecorded message aired on Al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel. He alleged the vessel, the Liberian-flagged Scarlet Ray, had ties to Israel.

The ship’s owners, Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, could not be immediately reached. However, the maritime security firm Ambrey described the ship as fitting the Houthis’ “target profile, as the vessel is publicly Israeli owned.”

Eastern Pacific is a company that is ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. Eastern Pacific previously has been targeted in suspected Iranian attacks.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which monitors Mideast shipping, earlier reported a ship heard a splash and a bang off its side near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In their campaign so far, the Houthis have sank four vessels and killed at least eight mariners.

The Iranian-backed Houthis stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by US President Donald Trump before he declared a ceasefire had been reached with the rebels. The Houthis sank two vessels in July, killing at least four on board with others believed to be held by the rebels.

The Houthis’ new attacks come as a new possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war remains in the balance. Meanwhile, the future of talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s battered nuclear program is in question after Israel launched a 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in which the Americans bomb three Iranian atomic sites.

Israel just launched a series of airstrikes last week, killing the Houthis’ prime minister and several Cabinet members. The Houthis’ attack on the ship appears to be their response, as well as their raids on the offices of the United Nations’ food, health and children’s agencies in Yemen’s capital Sunday in which at least 11 UN employees detained.