(Dubai) The Houthis on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the attack on a Greek bulk carrier and several other vessels off the coast of Yemen, saying it was a response to Israeli strikes on Rafah, a Palestinian town that has become the epicenter of the war in the Gaza Strip.
The Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Laax, operated by Greece, reported Tuesday that it had been hit by three missiles, according to the US military Middle East Command (Centcom) and maritime security companies.
The ship was damaged but continued on its voyage, according to Centcom and Britain’s maritime security agency UKMTO, run by the Royal Navy.
“A crew member was reportedly injured,” said the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), which monitors attacks on ships in this strategic area where 12% of world trade passes.
In a statement published on
The Yemeni rebels also attacked five other ships, he added, explaining that these acts were carried out “in response to the crimes of the Zionist enemy (Israel, Editor’s note) against the displaced people in Rafah”, after strikes on camps for displaced Palestinians in this town in the south of the Gaza Strip.
In a new statement Wednesday evening, the Houthis also claimed to have shot down an American MQ9 drone which was carrying out a “hostile operation” over Yemen.
Centcom, for its part, declared that it had destroyed two missile launcher systems in an area of Yemen controlled by the Houthis on Tuesday evening, then had shot down two drones over the Red Sea a few hours later.
Since November, the Houthis have carried out dozens of attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, claiming to target ships in solidarity with the Palestinians, in the context of the deadly war between Israel and Hamas.
The United States, a close ally of Israel, set up a multinational force in December to protect navigation in this strategic area and launched strikes in Yemen against the Houthis in January, with the help of the United Kingdom.
But these strikes have not deterred the Houthis, who control large swaths of Yemen and say they are now also targeting American and British ships, in addition to those linked to Israel.