Houthi rebels claim to have fired missiles and drones at four commercial vessels over the past 72 hours, in attacks that were either denied to have ever happened, missed their target or caused no serious damage.
The vessels identified in an official Houthi statement include a Chinese tanker carrying Russian oil that is known to have been hit three days ago and that the group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, mislabelled on Tuesday as a “British ship”.
This is the 115,500-dwt Huang Pu (built 2009), which US military authorities said was hit by a missile on 23 March but which continued on its journey after a fire that broke out on board was quickly extinguished.
US authorities had presented the attack on the Huang Pu, a vessel registered and managed out of Hong Kong, as evidence of the Houthis reneging on a pledge not to attack Chinese ships.
Saree, however, described it on Tuesday as a British vessel, which suggests that the Houthis attacked it based on outdated information — as they have often done in the past.
As TradeWinds reported on Sunday, the ship was sailing until late September 2023 with UK-based Union Maritime under the name Anavatos II, at which point it was sold to undisclosed owners.
The official Houthi policy has been to attack only ships linked with Israel, the US and the UK, to pressure them to stop the war being waged against Hamas in Gaza.
In reality, however, several of the more than 70 ships they have targeted since mid-November were primarily linked to other nations.
Saree claimed US and Israeli links to the other three ships allegedly attacked over the past 72 hours.
One is Eastern Mediterranean Management’s 50,200-dwt bulker Pretty Lady (built 2001), which Saree said was heading towards Israel.
Managers at the Athens-based company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The second is the 9,336-teu boxship APL Detroit (built 2014) — a vessel listed with France’s CMA CGM and described by the Houthi official as an “American ship”.
The operator, American President Lines (APL), says on its website that it is a “trusted partner of the US Government”.
Saree also said there was an attack on the “American” 2,500-teu Maersk Saratoga (built 2004) — which is a US-flagged vessel operated by Maersk Line USA.
It is doubtful, however, if all of Saree's statements fully reflect reality.
No other military or maritime intelligence source has so far reported any incidents involving the Pretty Lady, the APL Detroit or Maersk Saratoga.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Maersk even denied the Maersk Saratoga was attacked at all.
“No such incident was reported by the vessel, which is currently safely continuing her normal journey far from the mentioned location,” Maersk said.
Vessel trackers show the Pretty Lady and APL Detroit safely away from Yemen at anchor in Egypt.
