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Yemen's Houthis claim missile strike on Saudi oil tanker in Red Sea

Saudi shipping firm Bahri confirmed a vessel incident off Yanbu, reporting no casualties among the crew.

The short version

  • Yemen's Houthi movement claimed a ballistic missile attack on the Saudi oil tanker Amzan off the coast of Yanbu in the Red Sea.
  • Saudi shipping company Bahri confirmed the vessel was involved in an incident, noting that all crew members are safe and unharmed.
  • The attack is part of a declared Houthi blockade on Saudi-linked maritime traffic in the Red Sea, targeting Saudi Arabia's primary western energy export hub.

Key facts

  • A Houthi military spokesperson stated that the group targeted the Saudi national shipping company Bahri's vessel, Amzan, with a ballistic missile off Yanbu.[Al Jazeera]
  • Bahri confirmed that the Amzan was involved in a maritime incident in the Red Sea, reporting that all crew members were safe and no injuries occurred.[Al Jazeera]
  • The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that a tanker was hit by an unidentified projectile roughly 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu.[Al Jazeera]
  • Saudi government officials have not publicly confirmed the strike, and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.[Al Jazeera]

What remains uncertain

  • Saudi officials have not officially confirmed that a Houthi missile hit the vessel or acknowledged the nature of the damage.[Al Jazeera]
  • The extent of physical damage to the tanker remains unverified, despite Houthi assertions that the strike caused a fire aboard the ship.[Al Jazeera]

Sources