The
leader of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday 6 Feb that the group
will further escalate if the Israeli attack on Gaza does not stop.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital and most
populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since
November in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians, drawing U.S. and
British retaliatory strikes since last month.
The
attacks are disrupting maritime trade in one of the world’s busiest corridors
as freight firms reroute around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez Canal.
In a televised speech, Abdul Malik al-Houthi said
the group will “seek to escalate more and more if the barbaric and brutal
aggression against Gaza does not stop, along with the siege of the Palestinian
people from whom they deny aid and medicine.”
The group fired naval missiles at two ships in the
Red Sea on Tuesday, its military spokesman said, causing damage to Greek-owned
Star Nasia and British-owned Morning Tide.
Spokesman Yahya Sarea identified the Greek-owned,
Marshall Islands flagged Star Nasia as American. The vessel was carrying U.S. coal to India, marine shipping trackers
showed.