SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a missile strike on a Norwegian-flagged tanker, an attack the Iran-backed group said was part of its military campaign against the Zionist entity. Norwegian shipowner J Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi said the overnight strike on the Strinda caused a fire that the crew, all Indian nationals, were able to extinguish and that no one was hurt.

The Houthis said the ship was carrying oil bound for the Zionist entity — a claim denied by the owners of the 144-m vessel that was sailing towards the Suez Canal. France’s defense ministry said one of its naval vessels in the area shot down a drone that had also been launched during the attack, which it described as an “attempted hijacking”. The frigate Languedoc, “which was patrolling in the area, intercepted and destroyed a drone directly threatening the Strinda,” it said in a statement.

The attack was the latest in a series of drone and missile strikes launched by the rebels since the start of the Gaza war between the Zionist entity and Palestinian militant group Hamas over two months ago. “The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a qualitative military operation against the Norwegian ship Strinda, which was loaded with oil” and bound for the Zionist entity, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said. The US military initially reported the strike, saying that a navy destroyer had heard the ship’s mayday call and was giving assistance. 

The attack occurred as the tanker passed through Bab el-Mandeb, the strait between Yemen and northeast Africa leading to the Red Sea, a key route toward the Suez Canal and the Zionist entity’s southern port of Eilat. The shipowner said the vessel was neither headed toward the Zionist entity nor carrying oil, but that it was en route to “Italy from Malaysia with feedstock for biofuel” and was now “proceeding to a safe port” under naval protection.

“There is no (Zionist) link to the ownership or the management of the vessel. She was, however, tentatively nominated by her charterers for a cargo out of (the Zionist city of) Ashdod in January”, with an option to cancel should the security situation worsen, the company said. The Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognized internationally, are part of the Iran-backed so-called “axis of resistance” arrayed against the Zionist entity. They say they are defending the Palestinians from a Zionist onslaught in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement posted Saturday on social media, the Houthis said they “will prevent the passage of ships heading to the Zionist entity” if sufficient food and medicine are not allowed into besieged, Hamas-ruled Gaza. Regardless of which flag ships sail under or the nationality of their owners or operators, the Zionist entity-bound vessels “will become a legitimate target for our armed forces,” the statement said.

US and French warships patrolling the Red Sea have shot down Houthi missiles and drones several times since the militants began the attacks. A French frigate shot down two drones over the weekend using surface-to-air missiles, a military source told AFP, asking not to be named. The USS Mason shot down an air drone last week when the unmanned vehicle was near the ship, US officials said. Its intended target was unknown. A British warship is also part of the effort to protect shipping. – AFP