Yemen Houthis’ attacks caused Red Sea crisis

Yemen's Houthi militia have attacked scores of merchant ships off the country's coast over the past 10 months as part of a sometimes-deadly campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.

The Iran-backed Houthis' drone and missile strikes have targeted nearly 100 vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre, which is run by a Western naval coalition.

Houthi militia say their campaign is aimed at ships linked to Israel and its Western allies, the United States and Britain. However, Washington said early this year that dozens of countries had ties to the attacked vessels.

Houthi projectiles hit the Greek-flagged Sounion oil tanker carrying 150,000 tonnes—or more than a million barrels—of oil off Hodeida on August 21, causing a fire and cutting engine power.

The crew, 23 Filipinos and two Russians, were rescued the next day by a French frigate serving with the European Union’s Aspides naval mission.

The Houthi armed group later released a video of masked men detonating explosives on the Sounion, causing several fires on board.

Last week, an operation by private companies to tow away the burning ship was abandoned for safety reasons.

Surveillance flights spotted several fires onboard as recently as Saturday, said the Joint Maritime Information Centre, run by an international naval coalition.

The United States and environmental group Greenpeace have warned of a potential ecological catastrophe involving four times more oil than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska if the ship explodes or breaks up.