Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday they carried out a military operation against the Norwegian commercial tanker Strinda in its latest operation to protest against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The group targeted the tanker with a rocket after the crew refused to respond to all warnings, Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sareea said in a televised statement.
He vowed that the Houthis would continue blocking ships heading to Israeli ports until Israel allows the entry of food and medical aid into the Gaza Strip – more than 1,000 miles from the Houthi seat of power in Sanaa.
The attack on the tanker took place about 60 nautical miles north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at about 2100 GMT, a US official told Reuters. A second US 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.
