A military spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi Group
has announced that the group had launched attacks on three ships in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
“The first (attack) targeted the American ship Larego Desert in the
Indian Ocean, the second targeted the Israeli ship (MSC Mechela) in the
Indian Ocean. The third targeted the ship (Minerva Lisa) in the Red Sea,” Yahya Sarea said on
Monday in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
Sarea said that his group also launched drone attacks
against “two US
warships in the Red Sea, and the hits were accurate,” vowing to
continue attacks until Israel stops its war in the Gaza Strip.
No
public information could be found for the first two ships, but multiple
maritime traffic trackers showed a Marshall Islands-flagged Largo Desert tanker
en route from Durban, South Africa to Beira, Mozambique had been active in the
area, Xinhua news agency reported.
Online tracker Marine Traffic showed Minerva Lisa was
a crude oil tanker located in the Red Sea earlier in the day.
On Friday, the Houthi group claimed they launched a
missile attack against Israeli ship Essex in the Mediterranean Sea.
The
Houthis began last November 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 in
Yemen to deter the group, but only led to an expansion of Houthi attacks to
include U.S. and British commercial vessels and naval ships.