Houthis claim responsibility for attack on ship docked in Israel | News on the Israel-Palestine conflict

The Houthi rebels say the merchant ship was targeted because it was using an Israeli port as part of their intensified campaign to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis in Yemen said they launched attacks on a merchant ship after it used an Israeli port and on a US aircraft carrier that had been ordered home after months of responding to naval attacks caused by the Gaza war.

Yahya Saree, the Iran-aligned group’s military spokesman, said in a televised statement on Saturday that the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Transworld Navigator was hit directly by ballistic missiles in the Arabian Sea.

“The ship was targeted because the company that owns it violated the ban on entering the ports of occupied Palestine,” he said, alluding to an earlier threat that all ships docking in Israeli ports would be considered targets.

The attack came after the sinking of the ship MV Tutor this week and appears to mark a new escalation in the fight against merchant ships in vital maritime corridors.

Saree also claimed responsibility for a ballistic and cruise missile attack on the USS Eisenhower, which has led U.S. naval operations in the region since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Saree said “the operation successfully achieved its objectives,” without giving further details. An unnamed US official told Reuters the claim was “false.”

The Houthis and their supporting social media accounts have repeatedly falsely claimed to have hit or even sunk the aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.

The announcement came shortly after U.S. officials reportedly ordered the USS Eisenhower to return home after more than eight months of deployment, to be replaced by another aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific.

UKMTO WARNING
INCIDENT 088 – ATTACK – UPDATE 001https://t.co/fX3hWupPWO#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/yDrCzyfawN

— UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) 21 June 2024

The British maritime trade organization UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) reported on Friday that a ship was attacked 126 nautical miles (233 km) east of Aden in Yemen. The captain reported “explosions near the ship” and the crew was safe.

The Houthis have pledged to continue their military operations, saying they are in support of the Palestinians and will not end until the siege of the Gaza Strip is lifted.

The group has launched more than 60 attacks since the war began, sinking two merchant ships, hijacking another and attacking dozens more.

In March, the Houthis killed three people after one of their anti-ship missiles set fire to the Barbados-flagged ship True Confidence.

The US and British militaries have launched air strikes on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in an effort to weaken the group’s military capabilities.