by Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a military operation against the Norwegian oil tanker STRINDA on Tuesday, as part of a protest campaign in response to Israel’s siege of Gaza.
An anti-ship cruise missile launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen hit a commercial oil tanker, causing fire and damage without causing any casualties, the US military said in a statement on Monday.
The group targeted the tanker with a rocket after the crew refused to respond to all warnings, Yehia Sareea, a Houthi military spokesperson, said in a televised address.
The attack on the STRINDA tanker occurred around 9:00 p.m. GMT about 100 kilometers north of the Bab el Mandeb Strait which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a US representative told Reuters.
According to another American representative, the tanker was able to move under its own power in the hours following the attack.
No American ship was present in the area at the time of the attack but a US Navy warship, the USS Mason, responded to the STRINDA’s distress call to provide assistance, said the Central Command of the US Army, which oversees US troops in the Middle East, in a statement posted on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The attack caused fire and damage, but did not cause any casualties, the US military reported in a statement.
According to the Houthi spokesperson, the group has managed to obstruct the passage of several ships in recent days, acting in support of the Palestinians.
The tanker, under the Norwegian flag, is owned by Mowinckel Chemical Tankers. No comment could immediately be obtained from the Norwegian group.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Houthis have attacked ships using the region’s important delivery routes and fired drones and missiles towards Israel, saying they were supporting the Palestinians.
The Iran-aligned Shiite movement, which has indicated it will continue its attacks until Israel stops its offensive in the Gaza Strip, announced Saturday it would target all ships heading to Israel, regardless of their origin, and warned international delivery companies not to use Israeli ports.
According to data from the specialist firm Kpler, the STRINDA tanker was on its way to Venice in Italy after loading vegetable oil and biofuels in Malaysia.
It was not immediately clear whether the ship had any connection to Israel.
(Reporting Phil Stewart, with Trixie Yap and Florence Tan; Jean Terzian and Augustin Turpin, editing by Kate Entringer)
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