Yemen’s Houthis say they attack ships ignoring warnings in Red Sea

By Anadolu staff

SANAA, Yemen (AA) - The Yemeni Houthi group said Thursday it targets ships that ignore its warnings in the Red Sea, hours after three sailors were killed in an attack on a bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden.

"The US and UK bear the consequences of their military presence in the Red Sea," Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said on X.

He said the Houthi group “does not target any ship unless it is warned against crossing.”

Three sailors were killed and four others injured on Wednesday when an anti-ship ballistic missile struck M/V True Confidence, a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier, while transiting the Gulf of Aden, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

Houthis confirmed that they targeted a US ship with missiles after it refused to heed their warnings against crossing.

The Houthis have been targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, operated, or heading to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been under a devastating Israeli offensive since last October.

With the US and UK launching retaliatory airstrikes against Houthi sites inside Yemen, the Houthis declared that they consider all American and British ships military targets.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul