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Houthis claim to have attacked ships in the port of Haifa, Israel

The Yemeni Houthi group announced on Thursday that it had launched two joint military operations with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement against ships in the Israeli port of Haifa.

The Israeli military has so far denied claims that such an attack took place. “That is not true,” said military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.

However, Yahya Saree, Houthi military spokesman, said the group “first targeted two ships carrying military equipment in the port of Haifa, while the second target was a ship that violated the decision to block entry into the port.”

The Houthis, who control the capital and most of Yemen’s populated areas, have been attacking international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists, provoking retaliatory strikes from the US and Britain since February.

The Houthis claim the attack was an important operation

Following the attack, a statement was released on the Houthi’s official telegram saying that their “forces launched joint operations with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq at dawn today (Thursday) and carried out an important operation towards the port of Haifa.”

A general view of Haifa’s port on July 24. (Source: ILAN ROSENBERG/REUTERS)

Regarding the decision to cooperate with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance, the statement said that “the joint operations under the fourth escalation stage will have a significant impact on the enemies.”

Following another attack by the Houthi group on the Red and Arabian Oceans on Wednesday night, the group stated that “the operations were a response to the crimes committed against the displaced people of Rafah” and that they were part of the initiation of the fourth escalation phase mentioned above.