Houthis Claim Strike on Saudi Vessel as Red Sea Violence Escalates

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants said on Monday that they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi ship in the Red Sea, the latest strike in an escalating conflict near one of the world’s most critical trade routes.

A spokesman for the Houthi militia, Yahya Saree, said on social media that the group had struck a Saudi military ship and four block vessels. He added that the group was “closely monitoring” Saudi military movements in Yemen and that it would target Saudi forces “on land and at sea.”

The Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthi claims. But the armed forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which depends on Saudi Arabia military and financially, said on social media that the targeted vessel was a commercial ship that had been out of service since last year.

The ship was in the Yemeni port of Mokha, an ancient trading city that has become a frontline site as fighting has reignited in recent weeks. Houthi drone and missile bombardments have halted commercial operations at the port, severing a crucial lifeline for incoming aid and supplies.

The attack on Monday took place near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow maritime choke point at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The waterway is vital for global commerce, connecting Asia to Europe and the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez C***. The strait has become especially important for Saudi Arabia since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February and the Iranian authorities effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz.

The Saudi authorities turned to the Red Sea as an alternative route for exporting oil, but the Houthis announced a maritime blockade on Saudi vessels last month, and have repeatedly fired on Saudi-linked vessels.

A Houthi attack last week killed at least six people on a cargo vessel, according to the Yemeni government. These were the first-known fatalities in the Red Sea from Houthi fire since the start of the war with Iran.

The renewed fighting threatens to unravel a fragile calm in Yemen established by a 2022 United Nations-brokered truce.

In 2014, the Houthis drove Yemen’s internationally recognized government out of the capital, Sanaa. A year later, a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to restore the government, plunging the impoverished nation into a devastating decade-long war.

Yemeni government officials have often accused the Houthis of using the country’s position along global trade routes as leverage in a broader proxy battle.