CAIRO: Yemen’s Houthis attacked the MV Torm Thor, a US-flagged oil tanker owned and operated in the Gulf of Aden, the Iranian group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Sunday, as the militants continued to attack shipping lanes in solidarity. with the Palestinians in Gaza.
The group targeted the tanker with “a number of appropriate naval missiles,” Sarea added in a televised address.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the USS Mason, a guided-missile destroyer, shot down one anti-ship ballistic missile fired into the Gulf of Aden from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Saturday, which was believed to have targeted a tanker.
Neither the USS Mason nor the MV Torm Thor were damaged and there were no injuries, CENTCOM added in a statement.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have launched exploding drones and rockets at commercial vessels since November 19 to protest Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The US and Britain launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, rebranding the militia as a terrorist group.
The unrest from Israel’s war with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has spilled over to other parts of the Middle East to some extent. In addition to Houthi attacks on vital sea routes, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has traded with Israel along the Israel-Lebanon border, and pro-Iranian Iraqi militias have attacked bases that host US forces.
