The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) announced at dawn, on Tuesday, that a fire had broken out on a ship near the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, south-west of Yemen. No casualties occurred.
The Agency said that a fire broke out on board a vessel “in the vicinity of the Bab Al-Mandab, 15 nm west of port Mokha, Yemen (in Taiz Governorate, south-west of Yemen).”
It added in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that “All crew reported as safe” and that “International Search and Rescue informed.”
UKMTO also noted that “vessels in the vicinity are advised to exercised caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO,” but has not accused any specific party of being involved in the incident.
In another post, the British Agency stated that “UKMTO has received a report of an entity declaring itself to be the Yemeni Navy ordering a vessel to alter course to a Yemen port.”
The military spokesman for the Houthi forces, Yahya Saree, announced on X at dawn on Tuesday that “the Yemeni armed forces will make a statement at exactly 10 am this morning,” without giving further details.
On Saturday evening, the Houthi group announced “that they will prevent navigating all the ships heading to the Zionist entity from any nationality, if the food and medicine keep not accessing the Gaza Strip, and they will become a legitimate target for our armed forces.”
Since 7 October, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating genocidal war on Gaza which, as of Monday evening, left 18,205 dead and 49,645 injured, most of them children and women, massive destruction of infrastructure and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to official Palestinian and international sources.
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On 19 November, the Houthis announced the seizure of the “Galaxy Leader” carrier ship, owned by an Israeli businessman, in the Red Sea, and taking it to the Yemeni coast, in solidarity with “the Palestinian Resistance in the Gaza Strip”, according to Saree.
The Houthis repeatedly vowed to target ships owned or operated by Israeli companies, “in solidarity with Palestine,” and called on countries to “withdraw” their citizens working on the crews of these ships.
After these attacks were repeated, on 5 December, Washington revealed discussions to establish an international “naval task force” against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, noting that the force will be an alliance that includes 38 countries.
In response to this, the Houthis announced, on 8 December, that the “threat” to establish an international force in the Red Sea to confront its attacks on ships was “useless” and but would “threaten the security and stability of the region.”