The Yemeni armed forces have targeted a Saudi oil tanker in the northern Red Sea, after the vessel violated a maritime blockade imposed on Saudi Arabia.
In a statement on Wednesday, the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said the tanker, identified as Wafa, was struck off the coast of Yanbu with “a number of ballistic missiles,” noting that the attack was “precise.”
According to the spokesman, the operation was carried out “in implementation of the Yemeni Armed Forces’ decision to impose a maritime blockade on the Saudi enemy” and to reinforce the “blockade for a blockade” equation.
He noted that the latest strike brought the total number of Saudi oil tankers targeted since the blockade was announced on July 22 to eight.
Saree also said that 29 Saudi oil tankers were prevented from continuing their voyages and forced to turn back in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
He further stated that following the tightening of the naval blockade from the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Saudi Arabia had begun diverting its oil tankers toward the northern Red Sea.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that their operations will continue and escalate in targeting Saudi oil tankers in the northern Red Sea to close all access points and prevent their passage,” the spokesman said.
The latest development comes amid heightened tensions between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
The escalation follows Saudi airstrikes on Sana’a International Airport last month to halt humanitarian flights carrying patients and stranded civilians.
In response, Yemeni forces struck Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport with ballistic missiles and drones. They also announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia to end the 12-year Saudi-led siege.
President of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat has said the only path to ending the ongoing hostilities and establishing peace is an unconditional halt to Saudi Arabia’s blockade and aggression against the Arab country.
“Should the aggression persist and the siege is not lifted, any dialogue and agreement will be nothing but an illusion and a mirage,” Mashat warned recently.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies imposed the blockade on Yemen as part of a full-scale military campaign launched on March 26, 2015, with military, political, and logistical backing from the United States and other Western countries.
The war went on to result in the deaths of tens of thousands of Yemenis, but failed to achieve its stated objective of restoring Yemen’s former Riyadh-backed regime to power.
The former regime had fled the country amid political uncertainty, after which Ansarullah, Yemen’s popular resistance movement, assumed responsibility for administering state affairs.
