A Houthi claim to have targeted a ship in the eastern Mediterranean has been dismissed by the named vessel’s manager.
The militant group said it had attacked the 6,400-dwt clean product tanker Olvia (built 2011), but managers at Cyprus-based Island Oil Holdings said they had not noticed anything unusual on board.
“There was no incident,” TradeWinds was told.
Previous claims of strikes on Mediterranean shipping have also been dismissed.
Houthi spokesperson Brigadier Yahya Saree has claimed strikes on 11 ships underway in the Mediterranean or to the Israeli port of Haifa.
As in the case of the Olvia, most of these attacks are said to have been carried out with the help of the “Iraqi Islamic Resistance”.
This information has never been corroborated — either by the usual sources of maritime security information such as United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations or by any of the companies allegedly targeted.
The claims come amid the backdrop of some very real and deadly attacks this year, however.
The Houthis have sunk two ships and damaged dozens of others in more than 100 strikes near the shores of Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
In some cases, they have even used drones to attack ships far out in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
No proof of a successful or serious attack has emerged so far in the Mediterranean — an area to which the Houthis first threatened to expand operations in a statement on 3 May.
The main damage caused by the Houthis to Israeli ports seems to be financial.
Several news reports emerged last week quoting the chief executive of the Red Sea port of Eilat as saying that the terminal was declaring bankruptcy due to a collapse in incoming business.
