AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia on Monday said they fired a missile at a US Navy ship in the Gulf of Aden, vowing to continue their attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab, and the Gulf.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahiya Sarae said that Houthi naval troops fired an anti-ship missile at the USS Lewis B. Puller as it traveled in the Gulf of Aden. Sarae said the attack was retribution for US and UK bombings in Yemen and in solidarity with the “oppressed” Palestinians.
“The targeting procedure is part of the Yemeni armed forces’ military actions in defense of Yemen and evidence of their determination to help the oppressed Palestinian people,” Sarae said.
Despite the Houthi’s claims, neither the US Central Command nor the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations agency, which monitors Houthi assaults on ships, reported any fresh strikes in the waters off Yemen over the past 24 hours.
Since November, the Houthis have seized a commercial ship known as Galaxy Leader and fired dozens of drones and missiles against commercial ships in the region, which they say is to push Israel to cease operations in Gaza.
The attacks have pushed the US to lead a coalition to protect international trade lines off Yemen, carrying out dozens of attacks on Houthi-controlled regions and reclassifying the group as terrorists.
The Houthis have said that neither the coalition attacks nor the new designation will stop them from preventing all Israel-bound ships passing through the Red Sea.
“Neither America nor anybody else will be able to prevent Yemen from meeting its humanitarian and moral obligations towards the tortured people of Gaza,” chief Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam said on social media platform X on Sunday.
Experts believe the Houthis continue to attack ships to remain in the spotlight and keep the US involved in the region, as they are aware that the administration of President Joe Biden will not deploy troops to Yemen during an election year.
Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East expert and head of Girton College at the University of Cambridge, told Arab News that the current exchange of strikes between the Houthis and the US may escalate into an aggressive US bombardment of Yemen and may also see the Houthis intensify their own attacks.
“As long as there is no ceasefire in Gaza, the Houthis can position themselves as having rightson their side,” she said.
“The more the US bombs them, the more they can justify their own expansion of operations — as long as they still retain capability, which looks to be the case. We may already be in a spiral.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, urged the EU on Monday to declare the Houthis terrorists.
The official news agency SABA reported that Al-Alimi discussed the UN-brokered peace efforts with the EU Ambassador to Yemen Gabriel Munuera Vinals in Riyadh, as well as the impact of the Houthi attacks on Yemen’s oil terminals and the EU’s economic support for the Yemeni government.
