Yemeni forces target Israel’s Eilat, UK ship, US destroyer with missiles, drones

Yemeni armed forces say they have carried out three military operations, targeting Israeli port of Eilat, a British ship in the Gulf of Aden and a US destroyer in the Red Sea with a number of ballistic missiles and drones.

A statement issued on Thursday said the operations were launched “in support of the oppressed Palestinian people, and as part of the response to the American-British aggression on our country”.

“During the first operation, the missile force and the drone air force of the Yemeni Armed Forces launched a number of ballistic missiles and drones at various targets of the Zionist enemy in the Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) area in occupied southern Palestine.

“The second operation took place in the Gulf of Aden, where the Yemeni Armed Forces' naval forces targeted a British ship (ISLANDER) in the Gulf of Aden with a number of appropriate naval missiles, hitting it directly, which led to a fire on board by the grace of Allah.

“The third operation involved targeting an American destroyer in the Red Sea with a number of drones,” the statement said.

Earlier Thursday, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a UK-owned ship was set on fire off the southern coast of Yemen after being struck in a missile attack in the Gulf of Aden.

The strike, it said, saw two missiles fired at the ship some 70 nautical miles southeast of Aden. US-led coalition forces are responding to the incident, the UKMTO added.

Ship-tracking data identified the vessel ablaze as a Palau-flagged cargo ship named Islander.

The private security firm Ambrey also said “the missile attack led to a fire onboard and coalition military assets were responding to the incident.”

Yemen’s armed forces have introduced “submarine weapons” in their attacks on vessels either owned by Israel or associated with the regime, Ansarullah Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday. 

Yemen sent shippers and insurers formal notice of a ban on vessels linked to Israel. The communication, the first to the shipping industry outlining a formalized ban, came in the form of two notices from the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center.

Ships that are wholly or partially owned by Israeli individuals or entities; Israel-flagged vessels, or those owned by US or British individuals or entities, or sailing under the flags of the US or Britain, are banned from the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, according to the Thursday notices.

“The Humanitarian Operations Center was established in Sana’a to coordinate the safe and peaceful passage of ships and vessels that have no connection to Israel,” a senior Ansarullah official said.

British oil giant Shell halts Red Sea shipments after US-UK strikes on Yemen

Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces continue to fulfill their religious, moral, and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people and in defense of dear Yemen in the face of the American-British aggression," the Thursday statement said.

"Their military operations will not stop until the aggression ceases and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted."

On October 31, 2023, Yemeni forces first claimed a missile-and-drone barrage targeting the port. Eilat has seen an 85% drop in activity since the Yemeni forces stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

In recent months, the United States and its allies have launched attacks on Yemen’s territory amid frustration in the face of the anti-Israel maritime campaign by the Yemeni armed forces.

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