DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthis on Tuesday said that they carried out a military operation against a Norwegian commercial tanker in their latest protest against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, underlining the risks of a conflict that has shaken the Middle East.
The Iran-aligned group hit the tanker, the STRINDA, with a rocket because it was delivering crude oil to an Israeli terminal and after its crew ignored all warnings, Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sarea said in a statement.
But the tanker’s owner, Norway’s Mowinckel Chemical Tankers, said the vessel was headed to Italy with a cargo of palm oil to be used in biofuels. It was not planning to stop in Israel, a company’s spokesperson told Reuters.
The Houthis have waded into the Israel-Hamas conflict – which has spread around the region since Oct. 7 – attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
On Saturday, they said they would target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality, and warned international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.
The attack took place about 60 nautical miles (111 km) north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at about 2100 GMT, a U.S. official was quoted as saying by Reuters. A second U.S. official said the STRINDA was able to move under its own power in the hours after the attack.
“There were no U.S. ships in the vicinity at the time of the attack, but the (U.S. Navy destroyer) USS MASON responded to the M/T STRINDA’s mayday call and is currently rendering assistance,” the U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
The attack caused a fire and damage but no casualties, the U.S. military said in a statement.
