Yemen's Houthis claim attacks on Israeli ship, city

Yemen's Houthis claim attacks on Israeli ship, city Sanaa, July 15 (IANS) Yemen's armed Houthi group has claimed responsibility for missile and drone attacks against an Israeli ship in the Gulf of Aden and the Israeli city of Eilat. "The armed forces targeted the Israeli ship, MSC UNIFIC, in the Gulf of Aden," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Sunday in a televised statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV. The group also attacked "military targets" of the Israeli city of Eilat with drones, he added as reported by Xinhua news agency. The spokesman reiterated that the group will continue attacking Israeli targets until the war on Gaza stops. Meanwhile, the US Central Command said its forces had destroyed two drones and one unmanned boat in the Red Sea in the past 24 hours, according to a statement on social media platform X. Earlier on Sunday, the Houthi television reported that the US-British naval coalition conducted two airstrikes against the Hodeidah airport in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. Last November, the Houthis began to launch anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones targeting what they said were Israeli-linked ships transiting the Red Sea to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech last week that his group had targeted "a total of 166 ships linked to Israel, US, and Britain". In response, the US-British naval coalition stationed in the waters has since January conducted air raids and missile strikes against Houthi targets to deter the group, but this only led to an expansion of Houthi attacks to include US and British commercial and military ships. --IANS int/khz