Yemen Monitor / Sana’a / Special:
The Houthi group appears to be increasingly confused about its operations against Israel and ships in the Red Sea; on Sunday, it announced a fourth phase of escalation that it had previously declared in May 2024.
The Houthi spokesman said on Sunday that the movement had begun “the implementation of the fourth phase of the naval blockade on the Israeli enemy” . He stated that it would target any ship whose company deals with Israeli ports, regardless of its nationality.
However, on May 3, 2024, the same spokesman announced during a protest in Al-Sabeen Square in Sana’a: “the start of the implementation of the fourth phase of escalation as follows: targeting all ships violating the ban on Israeli navigation and heading to the ports of occupied Palestine in the Mediterranean Sea in any area our hands can reach.”
The group said at the time that if Israel proceeded with its attack on Rafah, they would impose “comprehensive sanctions on all ships of companies related to supplying and entering the ports of occupied Palestine, regardless of their nationality.”
The recent attacks on July 6 and 7 on the ships “Magic Sea” and “Eternity C,” which resulted in their sinking and casualties, showed an expansion of the Houthis’ list of targeted vessels. Human Rights Watch said that the two ships had no connection to Israel.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have continued their attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, targeting “Israeli ships and those linked to Israel or heading to it,” in what they said was “in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
