According to a Houthi leader, 129 ships were attacked during the Red Sea campaign｜Arab News Japan

• The US Central Command says its forces have destroyed a new wave of militia drones and missiles

Saeed Al-Batati

AL-MUKALLA: The leader of Yemen’s Houthi militia, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, said on Thursday that his forces had attacked 129 ships in international waters since the start of their campaign in November, claiming that his group had resisted political and economic pressure to stop attacking ships.

“There are no political, economic or other factors that could influence our activities,” he said in a televised address.

The militia fired 27 ballistic missiles and drones against 10 ships in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea in 12 operations over the past seven days, Al-Houthi said, denying earlier media reports that the militia had reduced its naval attacks.

“Our actions have not decreased, but there has been a reduction in shipping and ship movements on the American and British sides, as well as a near-complete absence of Israeli activity.”

The Houthi leader’s threat to attack more vessels came after the US Central Command announced on Thursday morning (Yemeni time) that its forces had destroyed a new wave of drones and missiles fired by the Houthis over international waters off the coast of Yemen, and had also thwarted Houthis’ missile launches by destroying launchers.

The US military said it destroyed two missile launch pads in a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen on Tuesday evening.

On the same day, the Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles over the Red Sea from areas under their control, without attacking the US-led coalition or foreign merchant ships.

Two drones launched by the Houthis over the Red Sea in Yemen were intercepted by US forces on Wednesday morning before they reached their targets.

“These missiles and systems have been determined to pose an imminent threat to U.S., coalition forces, and commercial vessels in the region. These actions are being taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer,” the U.S. military said in a statement.

Hours before the US military’s statement, the Houthis claimed on Wednesday evening that they had shot down another US military MQ-9 Reaper drone over the central province of Marib. Shortly afterwards, locals shared pictures and videos on social media of what appeared to be a downed Reaper drone in the province’s desert.

The drone was involved in a “hostile mission” over Marib when it was hit by a “locally manufactured” surface-to-air missile on Wednesday morning, the Houthis said.

This is the sixth time since the Red Sea operation began that the Yemeni militia has claimed to have shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone, and the third time in May.

The Houthis’ activities in the Red Sea resulted in the loss of one merchant ship, the hijacking of another, and the attack on numerous other vessels in international sea lanes. Shipping companies were therefore forced to abandon the Suez Canal through the Red Sea and instead choose the longer and more costly route via Africa.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Aden imposed sanctions on six Yemeni banks on Thursday for failing to comply with an earlier order to relocate their operations from Houthi-controlled Sanaa to government-controlled Aden.

The central bank ordered Yemeni banks and other financial institutions to stop doing business with Tadhamon Bank, Yemen Kuwait Bank, Shamil Bank of Yemen and Bahrain, Al-Amal Microfinance Bank, Al-Kuraimi Islamic Microfinance Bank and the International Bank of Yemen because they do business with the Houthis, who are considered terrorists by the Yemeni government and other countries, and not to relocate their headquarters to Aden.

The Central Bank also instructed Yemen’s public and financial institutions to deposit all banknote denominations issued before 2016 with the Central Bank and other commercial banks in government-controlled areas of Yemen within 60 days.

The economic war between the Yemeni government and the Houthis has intensified since 2016, when the government moved the headquarters of the central bank from Sanaa to Aden.

In response, the Houthis stopped paying civil servants’ salaries in the regions they control, banned the issuance of banknotes printed by the Yemeni government in Aden, and attacked oil terminals in the government-controlled regions of Shabwa and Hadramaut.