Yemen’s Houthis claim responsibility for strikes on UK oil tanker, U.S. drone

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that Yemen’s naval forces struck a British oil tanker in the Red Sea with missiles.

Saree also added the military also shot down an American MQ-9 drone in Sa’ada province.

The new operations were also a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid the Israeli genocide there, he continued.

The spokesman stressed that the Yemeni armed forces will continue operations in the Red and Arabian Seas as well as the Indian Ocean until the Western-backed Israeli genocide comes to a halt.

Since the start of the brutal campaign in Gaza, the regime has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and injured over 77,000 others. It has cut off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

The maritime attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.

The pro-Palestine maritime campaign has also prompted airstrikes by the U.S. and its allies on Yemen – in violation of the Yemeni sovereignty and international law.

In consequence, Yemen’s armed forces have declared U.S. and British vessels as legitimate targets.