Yemeni Iran-led Houthis pledged on Sunday to keep targeting British vessels in the waters of the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of UK-owned Rubymar. The U.S. military also confirmed on Saturday that Rubymar sank after it was targetted and struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile that Yemen’s Houthi militants fired on Feb 18.

Yemen is going to continue sinking more British vessels, and repercussions or other impairments will get added to Britain’s bill, said Hussein al-Ezzi, the deputy foreign minister in the Houthi-headed government, in a post on X.

The statement added that it’s a rogue state that attacks Yemen and collaborates with the U.S. in sponsoring crimes against the civilians in Gaza. Houthis have continuously launched drones as well as missiles against international commercial shipping since mid-November, stating that they have been acting in solidarity with the Palestinians against Israeli military actions going on in Gaza.

The Red Sea attacks have hugely disrupted shipping globally, compelling firms to re-route through more expensive as well as longer journeys via southern Africa and also stoked the fears that the Israel-Hamas war can spread and destabilize the broader Middle East. Britain and the U.S. struck Houthis in Yemen in Jan 2024 in retaliation for the terrifying attacks on Red Sea shipping.

Reference: Reuters