DUBAI/OSLO: Yemen’s Houthis said on Tuesday they hit a Norwegian commercial tanker with a missile in their latest protest against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, underlining the risks of a conflict that has shaken the Middle East.
The Iran-aligned group attacked the tanker, the STRINDA, because it was delivering crude oil to an Israeli terminal and after its crew ignored all warnings, Houthi military spokesperson Yehia Sarea said in a statement.
But the tanker’s owner, Norway’s Mowinckel Chemical Tankers, said the vessel was headed to Italy with a cargo of biofuel feedstock, not crude oil. But it did acknowledge a tentative Israeli port call scheduled for January, details it had not offered in the immediate hours after the attack in the Red Sea.
“Upon the recommendation of our security advisors, it was decided to withhold this information until the vessel and her crew were in safe waters,” the company said in a statement.
Following the attack, Israel’s military said it had deployed one of its most advanced warships, a Sa’ar 6 class corvette, in the Red Sea.
The US Navy destroyer Mason responded to the STRINDA’s distress calls and assisted the crew, which was grappling with a fire, the US military said. It said the STRINDA was struck on Monday night by a land-based cruise missile fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen. “The actions that we’ve seen by these Houthis forces are destabilizing, they’re dangerous,” Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder told a press conference on Tuesday.
“So, this is an international problem that requires an international solution,” Ryder said. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would be travelling to the Middle East next week, including to Israel, Qatar and Bahrain, he said.
The Houthis have waded into the Israel-Hamas conflict - which has spread around the region - attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
On Saturday, they said they would target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their nationality, and warned international shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports.
GAZA WAR RIPPLES THROUGH REGION
The Gaza conflict has already spread to other parts of the region, with Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah trading fire and Iranian-backed militias attacking bases of US forces in Iraq.
French frigate FREMM Languedoc intercepted and destroyed a drone that was threatening the STRINDA in a complex aerial attack originating from Yemen, the French defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
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