DUBAI – On Monday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced they had fired a missile at an oil tanker located near Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea. This move may signal a resurgence of their assaults on vessels navigating this crucial global maritime route.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, serving as a Houthi military spokesman, took responsibility for the attack via a prerecorded statement on al-Masirah, a satellite channel run by the Houthis. He claimed the ship, named Scarlet Ray, was connected to Israel.
The ship’s owners could not be immediately reached.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which oversees shipping in the Middle East, noted earlier that a vessel reported a splash followed by an explosion on its side near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
Between November 2023 and December 2024, the Houthis directed missile and drone strikes at over 100 ships amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Their operations have resulted in the sinking of four ships and the deaths of at least eight sailors.
Previously, attacks by the Iranian-supported Houthis paused temporarily due to a ceasefire in the war, only to face heavy airstrikes for weeks as ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump, who later confirmed a ceasefire with the Houthis. In July, the Houthis successfully sank two ships, claiming at least four lives, with others being potentially detained by the rebels.
The latest assaults coincide with unstable ceasefire talks in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Additionally, discussions involving the U.S. and Iran over Iran’s struggling nuclear program face uncertainty following a 12-day conflict initiated by Israel against the Islamic Republic, during which the U.S. targeted three Iranian nuclear facilities.
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 U.N. employees detained.
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