Ships carrying Russian cargo became the main victims of Houthi attacks – media

Merchant ships carrying Russian goods have suffered the most from attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, despite guarantees of safe passage. Bloomberg reported this on Thursday, July 25.

At the beginning of the year, the rebels said they would not attack Russian and Chinese ships, but of the 83 ships hit by attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November last year, 19% have left Russian ports. All the ships attacked by the Houthis were oil tankers and container ships. In addition to ships leaving Russian ports, rebels attacked ships leaving Singapore ports accounted for 11%.

The agency clarified that the Houthis did not fire on ships sailing under the Russian flag, but attacked ships with sailors – citizens of the Russian Federation. Moreover, before the attack, several ships sent satellite signals “crew from Russia” and “Russians on board.”

In particular, last week the rebels attacked two ships carrying Russian cargo at the same time. The first to be hit was the Bentley I, an Israeli-owned ship flying the Panamanian flag, carrying vegetable oil from Russia to China. The Houthis sent a drone boat with explosives and two small mined boats towards it, and then launched a ballistic missile towards the ship. However, they failed to hit the tanker.

Rebels then fired on and destroyed the Liberian-flagged, Marshall Islands-registered oil tanker Chios Lion using a remote-controlled boat. The tanker was carrying 100 thousand tons of crude oil from the port of Tuapse in the Krasnodar Territory.

In June, Yemeni rebels sank the Greek merchant ship Tutor in the Red Sea, which was transporting Russian coal from the port of Ust-Luga to Jordan. The bulk carrier caught fire 120 km southwest of the city of Hodeidah. After the attack, the ship’s crew was evacuated to the American missile cruiser Philippine Sea, and the bulk carrier itself was left adrift.

It can be recalled that the Houthis began attacking commercial ships passing through the country’s coast in November 2023 in response to the military operation organized by Israel in the Gaza Strip. By the end of May, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi said they had fired on about 130 ships and vowed to increase the frequency of attacks.

At the same time, the Houthis promised not to attack ships from the Russian Federation and China. However, immediately afterwards, rebels fired a missile at the M/V Huang Pu, a ship owned by a Chinese company, which was sailing from a Russian port and likely carrying Russian oil.

Russia also criticized the missile attacks by the United States and Great Britain against the Houthis and even initiated a UN Security Council meeting on this issue.