Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels carried out aerial attacks on tankers with flags from Panama and Liberia (France24)
U.S. Central Command said that U.S. forces destroyed five uncrewed Houthi aerial vehicles; Houthi attacks on merchant vessels rose in June to levels not seen since December, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center (AP)
UK Trade Monitor: Houthi Rebels Appear to Resume Attacks
The Iran-backed group resumed attacks in the Red Sea after pausing them for more than a week; U.S. Central Command said it had shot down two aerial drones and a drone boat (NYT)
Malta-Flagged Vessel Targeted by Houthis in Latest Attack
The Houthis maintain that their attacks target ships affiliated with Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom; however, many of the attacked ships have no affiliation with the Israel-Hamas War (AP)
Shipping Groups Call for De-escalation in Red Sea After Sinking of Ship
Attacks on commercial shipping “must stop now,” leading industry groups said in a joint statement; the head of operations at marine war risk and insurance specialist Vessel Protect counted ten Houthi strikes on shipping so far this month, up from five in May (Reuters)
It followed confirmation that a Greek-owned coal carrier that Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked last week has sunk (CNN)
Washington Unveils New Sanctions on Houthis as Red Sea Attacks Continue
The sanctions target people and groups that have facilitated funding for the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group, the U.S. Treasury Department said; the Houthis have recently stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, prompting the U.S. military to respond (NYT)
U.S. forces have destroyed four Houthi radars and one sea drone since Sunday, U.S. Central Command said (Times of Israel)
UN, Humanitarian Agencies Call on Houthis to Release Staff Members
Directors of six UN agencies and three international humanitarian groups jointly called for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels to release seventeen of their staff members who were recently detained; several dozen countries and the EU issued another joint statement echoing the appeal (AP)
U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power called the detentions “an affront both to diplomatic norms and to the dedication the individuals have shown to supporting the people of Yemen” (WaPo)
Separately, Houthi rebels launched a bomb attack against a Greek-owned commercial ship traveling southwest of the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeida; the vessel was later struck by an unknown airborne projectile (AP)
Boat in Gulf of Aden Sinks, Killing Forty-Nine Migrants
At least 49 people are dead and 140 more are missing after a vessel carrying primarily Ethiopian and Somalian refugees to Yemen sank in the Gulf of Aden (Al Jazeera)
U.S. Intelligence Indicates Partnership Between Yemeni Houthis and Al-Shabaab
The United States gained intelligence that Houthi rebels in Yemen are in talks to provide weapons to Al-Shabaab in Somalia, a partnership that U.S. officials warn would pose new threats to peace efforts in the region (CNN)
Washington Announces Sanctions on Ten People, Entities Linked to Houthis
The sanctioned people, ships, and companies help the Yemen-based, Iran-backed Houthi rebel group earn revenue to facilitate illegal activities, a U.S. Treasury Department official said (Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, days after detaining at least eleven UN staffers and several members of other aid organizations, Houthi rebels claimed the aid workers were associated with an “American-Israeli spy network” operating out of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa (AP)
Houthis Extend Their Reach into the Indian Ocean
The Iranian-backed group launched a drone strike on the MSC Orion container ship in late April after threatening to conduct attacks in the Indian Ocean in March; the attack occurred more than three hundred nautical miles off the coast of Africa (FT)
Houthi Rebels Launch Attack in Gulf of Aden
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command said early today that a warship in the U.S. coalition shot down a missile; the launch comes after a relative lull in Houthi attacks on sea vessels in the region (AP)
Yemen’s Houthis Target Four Vessels in Gulf of Aden, Spokesman Says
Yemen’s Houthis said they targeted four vessels, including what they described as a U.S. warship, with drones and naval missiles in the Gulf of Aden; the U.S. military said on Tuesday that it had destroyed an inbound anti-ship ballistic missile over the Gulf of Aden that the Houthis launched. (Reuters).
U.S. Military Destroys Missile in Houthi-Controlled Yemen
U.S. forces destroyed a mobile surface-to-air missile system in a Houthi-controlled territory of Yemen on Saturday, according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) (Reuters).
Washington Open to Revoking Houthi Terrorist Designation if Shipping Attacks Cease
The United States named the Houthis a terrorist group in January, and in recent months has tried to deter their attacks by striking Houthi positions (Bloomberg)
Some 424 U.S. and British airstrikes on targets in Yemen have killed 37 people and wounded 30, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, said (Reuters)
Houthi Attack Kill Eleven Government Loyalists in Southern Yemen
A surprise Houthi attack killed eleven fighters loyal to the Yemeni government in the country’s southern Lahij province early on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the southern forces said, in a rare flareup (Al Arabiya)
Israel Designates Yemen’s Houthis as a Terror Organization
Almost six months after the first Houthi missile attack aimed at Israel and six months after the first of many recurring Houthi attacks targeting international shipping routes in the Red Sea, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday signed a decree designating the Ansar Allah Movement, also known as the Houthi movement, as a formally recognized terrorist organization (Jerusalem Post)
U.S. Military Destroys Houthi Drones Over the Red Sea and in Yemen
The U.S. military said Sunday its forces destroyed one unmanned aerial vehicle in a Houthi rebel-held area of Yemen and another over a crucial shipping route in the Red Sea (AP)
New Currency Issued by Houthis Worsens Economic Divide
Hashem Ismael, the governor of the Houthi-controlled central bank, announced the release of a new 100-riyal coin into circulation to replace the damaged 100-riyal banknote (Arab News)
The central bank in Aden described the move as an “irresponsible escalation” and directed residents and financial institutions in Houthi-controlled areas to avoid using the new “fake” currency (Middle East Monitor)
Yemen Appoints New Foreign Minister, State News Agency Says
Yemen’s presidential leadership council appointed Shayea Mohsen Al-Zindani as the country’s new foreign minister, the state news agency Saba reported; Al-Zindani most recently served as Yemen’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia (Jerusalem Post).
Houthis Claim Strikes on Ships, Maersk Denies it Was Attacked
The Houthis said they had mounted six attacks on ships with drones and missiles in the last seventy-two hours in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, but one of the companies named, Denmark’s Maersk, denied its vessel had been targeted (Jerusalem Post).
Houthis Warn Saudi Arabia it Will Be Targeted if it Backs US-UK Strikes
In an interview with the Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel on Sunday, ahead of the ninth anniversary of the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the group’s Supreme Political Council, said the United States is pressuring several countries to join their coalition against Yemen (Bloomberg)
He especially warned Saudi Arabia that the country “would be a target for us if they provided aid and support to the US-British aggression against our country” (Al-Monitor).
Houthi Rebels Fire Missile at Chinese-Owned Tanker in Red Sea
U.S. Central Command said the missile caused a fire on board; the attack came after the Houthis reportedly said last week that they would not attack Chinese vessels (Bloomberg)
U.S. Conducts Self-Defense Strikes Against Houthi Facilities
U.S. forces conducted self-defense strikes against three Houthi underground weapons storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Friday (Reuters).
Bloomberg: Houthis Tell China, Russia Their Ships Will Not Be Targeted in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
The Iran-backed, Yemen-based Houthis suggested Beijing and Moscow could provide political support to the group in return at talks in Oman; Houthi, Chinese, and Russian spokespeople did not immediately comment on the matter (Bloomberg)
Separately, the European Union’s naval mission in the southern Red Sea, known as Aspides, said it had destroyed three ballistic missiles and a Houthi seaborne drone to protect merchant ships (Reuters).
Houthis Say Fuel Tanker in the Red Sea Targeted With Missiles
Yemen’s Houthis targeted a fuel tanker, MADO, in the Red Sea with naval missiles and Israel’s Eilat port and resort region with winged missiles, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said (Times of Israel)
MADO is a Marshall-Islands flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker heading to Singapore from Saudi Arabia; the Houthis described it as American, but Equasis’s shipping database indicates that it is Greek (Reuters)
Meanwhile, Houthi rebels blew up a house in Radaa, in the central province of Al-Bayda, killing at least nine people from the same family; this came a day after two Houthi fighters were killed in an ambush allegedly set up by the house’s owner, Ibrahim al-Zalei, who suspected the two men of murdering his brother (AP)
Since seizing control in Yemen by force in late 2014, the Houthis have demolished hundreds of opponents’ residences in a bid to quell any opposition, Yemeni activists and authorities say (Arab News).