DUBAI, June 7. /TASS/. The Houthis from Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement have attacked the Elbella and Aal Genoa commercial vessels in the Red Sea, the movement’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said.
"The Yemeni naval forces, unmanned aircraft and missile troops conducted two joint operations in the Red Sea against the Elbella and Aal Genoa ships belonging to companies, which violated the ban on the passage to the ports in occupied Palestine," he told the Houthi-owned Al Masirah television channel.
According to Sarea, the Houthis used "several drones, ballistic and anti-ship missiles" to attack the ships.
Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since mid-November, dozens of civilian ships have been attacked by the Houthi in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
In response to Ansar Allah's actions, the US authorities announced the creation of an international coalition and preparations for an operation codenamed Prosperity Guardian, expected to ensure freedom of navigation and protection of ships in the Red Sea. Since then, the United States and the United Kingdom have been regularly delivering strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.