Houthis Resume Red Sea Attacks with Strike on Tanker

Yemen's Houthis announced on September 1 that they had launched a missile at a tanker in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, effectively resuming their attacks on ships in the globally important waterway. This was reported by the AP.

Houthi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, claimed responsibility for the missile launch in a pre-recorded message broadcast on the Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah satellite news channel. He claimed that the Liberian-flagged vessel, Scarlet Ray, has ties to Israel.

The ship's owner is the Singapore-based company Eastern Pacific Shipping. It is controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.

From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis attacked more than 100 ships with missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in connection with the Israel-Hamas war.

During their campaign, the Houthis sank four ships and killed at least eight sailors. The Iran-backed Houthis had ceased their attacks during a brief truce in the war.

They were later subjected to several weeks of intense airstrikes announced by US President Donald Trump until he announced that a truce had been reached with the rebels.